; Child 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No..... 

Shelt_._l_.___ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A M 

i'lftfttttfttiCifiii 



from tbe (Berman 



OF 



1Rev. fi £\ Met3el. 



«* 




f 2i 1898 







ST. I.OUIS, MO.: 1898. rrnrii/cn 

Published by B. HERDER, ^ ElV tU 



17 South Broadway. 

2nd COPY, 
1898. 



^o\S? 



The U 



Ahk RY 
CoNRRgSS 

WASHINGTON 






3940 



Copyright, 1898, by Jos. Gummersbach. 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 027698 

PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO. 
ST. LOUIS, MO, 



CONTENTS. 



I. The Home Oratory 5 

II. Honor thy Father and thy Mother. 15 

III. Church 28 

iy. School 35 

V. A Christian Child's Day. .... 47 

VI. The Priest 56 

VII. The Daisies 62 

VIII. Two Bad Things 68 

IX. Every One's Darling. 83 

X. The Saving's Box 87 

XI. The Way to Keep Well 96 

XII. The Greatest Day oi Your Life. . . 106 

XIII. Our State of Life. ....... 113 

XIV. The Way to Heaven 120 



CHAPTER I. 
The Home Oratory. 

"In each house a tiny altar 
Cared for well, I fain would see, 
Round it night and morning gather 
All the Christian family." 

Tirn HAT delight filled the heart of little 
John Janssen, later on a celebrated 
German historian, in the year 1837, when 
his mother bought for him in the town of 
Kevelaer a tin chalice, a white vestment 
and wooden candlesticks. Now indeed he 
should be able to make his tiny altar look 
really nice, and he could "say Mass" every 
day. Night and morning he said his pray- 
ers before the altar, and many a day his 
voice went up to Heaven as early as the 
song of the larks, in the lines which he 
had learnt from his mother : 

"My Lord and God, I Thee will praise, 
Love, serve and honor all my days." 

(5) 



6 The Dutiful Child. 

My little reader, will you not follow his 
example. I dare say you have had an 
altar for some time. Well, kneel down 
before it every day, clasp your hands, say 
your morning and night prayers reverently 
and attentively. And I do not think that 
your mother will mind your finishing up 
by singing a hymn. 

God looks down with love upon a child 
saying its prayers. Good people rejoice 
at the sight, and it has been known that 
sinners have been converted by the words 
of prayer which they have heard fall from 
the lips of a little one. 

One evening; it was the 13th of July 
1880, a poor family had just finished its 
supper, which had consisted of nothing but 
a bit of black bread and some coarse oat- 
meal boiled in water. i ' Where is Father 1 ? ? 
asked little Charlie, "is he not coming 
home?" "Be quiet, my boy," said his 
mother consolingly; "we will say our 
prayers now." And as she spoke she 
quietly wiped away a tear, for her husband 
had heen a drunkard for some years. He 
left the house almost every evening before 



The Home Oratory. 7 

supper, and never came back till very late. 
But on this particular occasion he hap- 
pened to be earlier than usual, and as he 
drew near the house he heard through the 
open window the voices of his three child- 
ren praying earnestly to God to make their 
father stop at home in the evening. He 
began to weep and stood outside till there 
was silence. Then he entered the room, 
threw his arms round his poor wife's neck, 
drew his children to him and said in a 
choked voice: "Xow I will turn over a 
new leaf." And so he did. From that 
day forth he stayed at home, and joined in 
the evening-prayers of his children. Often 
he helped them to adorn their little altar. 
And, as you will easily believe, happiness 
and peace and comfort returned to the 
family. 

Say your prayers then children! It is 
your duty, for all good gifts come from God. 
God gave you your parents ; He gives you 
food and clothing, health and a home ; He 
gives you grace to keep out of sin. If God 
were to leave off helping you, you would 
fall into sin after sin, and would finally 



8 The Dutiful Child. 

lose your souls. I dare say that in the 
little garden before your house, you have 
all kinds of pretty flowers. If you were 
to take them and put them down in the 
cellar, far from the light and the sunshine, 
they would fade away in a few days. It 
would be just the same thing with you, if 
you were to leave off praying. God would 
take away from you the sunshine and the 
light, that is to say His grace and you 
would be done for. 

A great saint, St. Alphonsus Liguori has 
said: "All the blessed in Heaven have 
been saved through prayer. All the 
damned have been lost, for want of prayer; 
if they had prayed, they would never have 
fallen into hell." 

A child who does not pray is like a lamp 
without oil, a body without food, a plant 
without moisture, a soldier without arms. 
What happens to a lamp, in which there is 
no more oil ? It goes out. How does a body 
get on without anything to eat? It dies. 
What becomes of a plant, which is taken 
out of the moist earth f It withers away. 
And a soldier without arms cannot fight 
against the enemy for, as the rime says : 



The Home Oratory. 9 

"A man who is a soldier 

Must have a musket tall, 
And always keep it loaded 

With powder and with ball. 

He at his side must carry 
A sword of sharpest steel, 

So shall he slay his foeman, 
And deadly blows shall deal. ,, 

111 fares it with a child, who does not 
pray. Without prayer there is no real 
virtue, no strength against evil, no good 
death, no salvation. Alas for a child who 
leaves off praying; he will never get to 
Heaven. 

Do you know why you should pray every 
day, morning and evening, and before and 
after meals ? Do you know why you should 
pray when the devil tries to suggest evil 
to you? Directly you pray the wicked 
spirit is forced to retire ; directly you pray 
God gives you grace to live piously and to 
get to Heaven. Therefore never forget 
your prayers. Our divine Saviour Himself 
has told us that "we ought always to pray 
and not to faint. " 

You must also pray with special earnest- 
ness, when you are in need, as when your 



10 The Dutiful Child. 

parents are in trouble. I will tell you 
some stories about that. 

The last coals were burnt out, and the 
last pence were spent for bread. The 
father and mother and two children shiv- 
ered with hunger and cold. "We will 
pray once more," said the weeping mother; 
"perhaps God will help us after all. > ? They 
all knelt down and said the rosary. Then 
the father took hold of an old chest, which 
had belonged to his mother, tossed out the 
few rags it contained, and began to break 
up the wornout bit of furniture, so as to 
use it for firewood. When he attempted 
to take out the bottom, suddenly out rolled 
pieces of gold, — the trunk had a false bot- 
tom. The amazement of the whole family 
knew no bounds, they could hardly believe 
their eyes. They picked up the money and 
found that it amounted to five pounds. 
Father, mother and children again fell on 
their knees, and thanked God for the help 
He had sent them. 

In the Spring of 1884 there was a long 
drought. A little boy heard his parents 
consulting as to what was to be done, be- 



The Home Oratory. 11 

cause there was so little hay. He ran up 
to his father, took his hand and said with 
childish confidence : "You need not be un- 
happy, father ; I will tell our Lord to let 
it rain." In a short time he went to bed, 
and added this touching petition to his 
night-prayers: "Dear Lord, see how sad 
my father is. Do make the rain come soon, 
so that the hay may grow. You can make 
such nice grass." When the little lad woke 
next morning it was pouring in torrents. 
With one bound he sprang out of his little 
bed, hurried on his clothes, and ran full of 
joy to his father, crying: "There; has not 
our Lord heard me ? We must always tell 
Him things and not worry ourselves about 
them." 

So should you in every necessity go to 
God. When the children of Israel, who 
had been nearly fainting away from thirst 
in their journey through the desert, found 
a spring whose waters were bitter and 
undrinkable, what did Moses do? He 
prayed and God helped him. Before Ju- 
dith undertook her perilous journey to the 
enemy's camp in order to save her people, 



12 The Dutiful Child. 

she retired into her chamber and prayed, 
and God helped her. 

Jesus Christ Himself, God and man, 
before He went to His bitter Passion and 
Death, knelt on the Mount of Olives and 
prayed. 

God helps those who pray, for He is al- 
mighty, full of infinite love and kindness. 

It is of course an understood thing, that 
you must say your prayers devotedly; 
otherwise praying is no good at all. It is 
not enough that the lips should repeat the 
words of the prayers, the heart must utter 
them also, otherwise what the Lord once 
said of Israel may truly be applied to you: 
"This people honoreth Me with their lips, 
but their heart is far from Me." 

Therefore during your prayers pay no 
attention to what is going on around you, 
do not look at what others are doing, but 
reflect with lively faith that God is present 
and sees you. Speak to Him. It is the 
greatest honor you can have, to be able 
to speak to God. 

Neither must you murmur, if it often 
happens that God does not hear you at 



The Home Oratory. 13 

once, nor give you exactly what you ask 
for. Perhaps he wishes to put your trust 
in Him to the test, to see whether you will 
grow tired of praying, and sometimes in 
place of what you want He gives you 
something better. 

He acts in such cases just as your mother 
does. When you ask her for a knife she 
gives you instead a harmless plaything, 
because you might cut yourself with the 
knife. You know how it fared with the 
peasant who in a dream begged that every- 
thing which his fingers touched might turn 
to gold. Everthing was changed to gold, 
even the bread that he was going to eat, so 
that he would have starved in the midst of 
all his wealth. Next morning he was very 
thankful to find that it had all been a 
dream, and he was for the future cheerful 
and contented with what God gave him. 

"My dream has taught me," he said to 
himself, ' 'that it is well that God does not 
instantly grant all our petitions ; many a 
man would like gold to be as plentiful as 
straw, and then would never be satisfied 
nor happy, and some people would ask for 



14 The Dutiful Child. 

all sorts of foolish things, and would perish 
body and soul." 

The holy Cure d'Ars was very fond of 
children. He often encouraged them to be 
good, but he made a point of impressing 
one thing in particular upon them, that 
was to say their prayers diligently and 
devoutly. "For," he used to say, "if you 
leave off praying, you are taking strides 
towards hell." Never forget that, children. 

"In each house a tiny altar 
Cared for well, I fain would see, 

Round it night and morning gather 
All the Christian family. 

Such a house becomes a temple 
Where the Lord well pleased may rest ; 

Round it holy angels hover, — 
Those within are safe and blest. * ' 



CHAPTER II. 
Honor thy Father and thy Mother, 

"A child, who ever to his parents shows 
All love and honor, on him God bestows 
All earthly blessings; and when life is o'er, 
His are the joys of Heaven for evermore. 
But he who to his father pays no heed, 
Nor cherishes his mother ; he shall lead 
E'en here below a life of grief and shame, 
And when he dies shall burn in endless flame." 

jCRITZ, a little boy of seven, was on the 
*" whole a very nice child, but now and 
then he was obstinately set upon something 
that he was not allowed to do, and his father 
had often threatened him with the stick. 
One day, when Fritz had again been dis- 
obedient to his mother, his father stood 
before him with the stick in his hand, say- 
ing : ' 'Fritz what am I to do with the stick 
now V 7 "Go for a walk with it, I suppose,'' 
said the cunning little fellow. But the 
father made the stick walk over the back 
(15) 



16 The Dutiful Child. 

of the disobedient child, who learnt to be 
docile for the future. 

And that is as it should be. If a child 
will not obey, if he tells lies or steals, his 
parents must punish him. 

In days gone by a very curious custom 
prevailed in parts of Germany. On a fine 
summer's day all the children went with 
their parents and teachers into the wood, 
there they cut down branches of birch trees, 
singing the while : 

"A whipping with a rod 
Makes naughty children good." 

The birch-twigs were then tied in bundles 
and carried home on the shoulders of the 
children ; who sang merrily as they walked: 

"Father and mother home we go; 
To every house we bear a rod, 
We know that though it gives us pain 
You only use it for our good.' ' 

It is a great blessing, though you may 
not think so, when you are punished for 
your faults by your parents. 

God Himself has said : "He that spareth 
the rod hateth his son, but he that loveth 
him correcteth him betimes." 



Honor thy Father and thy Mother. 17 

Therefore children take a well-deserved 
punishment willingly, and if it should 
happen that you are punished when you 
are not in fault think to yourselves: If 
I do not deserve punishment this time, 
I have often escaped it when I did de- 
serve it. Besides it rests with yourselves 
to avoid being punished. All you have 
to do is to be invariably respectful and 
obedient to your parents. Ought that to 
be difficult to you ? You know quite well 
that your parents are the representatives 
of God to you, and next to Him are 
your greatest benefactors. O what a 
wonderful thing is the heart of a parent! 
How great are its love, care and patience. 
Just think how your father and mother 
watch over you night and day, keep you 
out of harm and danger, give you food, 
drink and clothing and teach you what is 
right. Can you count the hours which 
your mother has watched at your bedside, 
can you reckon up the days of toil which 
your father has gone through for you? 
Therefore always show the utmost respect 
to your parents. Never think nor say 



18 The Dutiful Child. 

anything but what is good of them, and 
always be courteous, dutiful and helpful 
in your behavior towards them. 

There was once a young Bohemian, 
named Theodore Kohn, who was raised at 
a very early age to the archbishopric of 
Olmiitz. On his election his parents, who 
were poor simple country-people, came to 
offer him their congratulations. He went 
to meet them at the station, and as soon 
as they got out the railway-carriage, bent 
before them and kissed their hands with 
filial respect. All the spectators were 
deeply touched. 

Always love your parents. 

A good child is happy, when he can give 
his parents any joy or comfort, when he 
can relieve them of any worry or anxiety, 
when he can do them any little service. 

You must especially show affection to 
your parents, when they are getting old. 
Then their faculties begin to decay, their 
steps grow slow and tottering, their hands 
tremble, their whole body becomes weak 
and powerless. Be patient and sympathetic 
with the infirmities of your parents, and 



Honor thy Father and thy Mother. 19 

strive to lighten the burden of their declin- 
ing years. If they are poor, help them to 
the extent of your power, and take all 
possible care of them. In ever omit praying 
for them every day, and even when they 
lie in the grave still think of them in 
your prayers, and have the holy sacrifice 
of the Mass offered up for them. 

Pius the Ninth was the Head of the 
Church from 1846 to 1878. It is not very 
easy to get an audience of the Pope, for as 
he has the whole Church, he naturally 
is very busy. Nevertheless a poor little 
Eoman boy once succeeded in making his 
way into the presence of his Holiness, and 
crying bitterly, handed him the following 
petition: "Holy Father! my mother is old 
and weak, and I am as yet too young to 
support her myself . Our unkind landlord 
will turn us out to-morrow morning, if we 
don't pay him the fifteen shillings which 
we owe him. If you will only be so kind 
as to lend them to me, I will pay you back 
when I am older." The Pope after reading 
this asked: "What is your name, my 
child!" "Paul, holy Father. » "And how 



20 The Dutiful Child. 

old are you?" "Ten." "Is your father 
alive !" "No, he has been in Heaven these 
ten years." "And what does your mother 
do ? " l 'She sews and prays from morning 
to night." Pius the Ninth gave the little 
fellow three pounds, caused further inqui- 
ries to be made about him and his mother, 
and as he heard nothing but good of them, 
took them both under his especial pro- 
tection. 

A young girl, who had vainly sought for 
work, was at last reluctantly compelled to 
sell the little gold cross which she wore 
round her neck in order to get bread for 
her mother. She came home with tear- 
dimmed eyes, but with a light heart, say- 
ing: "Cheer up, dear mother. Here is 
food for some days, and when they are 
past, I shall again have work." A few 
hours later this act of daughterly self-sac- 
rifice came to the ears of Pius IX, and that 
same evening the girl received a sealed 
packet. As she opened it out fell a beauti- 
ful gold cross and three sovreigns, and 
inside were these words: "My dear child 
you were right to put your trust in God, 



Honor thy Father and thy Mother. 21 

Who never suffers filial piety to go unre- 
warded." 

In the town of Konigsberg, in Prussia, 
a child of five years old brought her great- 
est treasure, her doll, to pledge in a pawn 
shop. k * What do you want money for?" 
asked the pawnbroker. 

k 'Father is ill, and mother is crying be- 
cause we have nothing to eat/' — "I can't 
take the doll ; it is of no use to me." 

The child began to sob bitterly, and the 
pawnbroker, moved by her tears, went to 
his till and took out a sovreign, which 
he gave her, saying : "There, take that to 
your father." 

Two Viennese girls in 1887 made great 
personal sacrifices for their sick parents. 
One was ready to have all her beautiful 
teeth drawn, the other wanted to sell her 
thick fair hair. The dentist was so struck 
by the conduct of the first that he gave her 
£5, and later on made her his wife, and the 
hair of the other was bought by an Eng- 
lishman. 

Always be obedient to your parents : obey 
them willingly, quickly and exactly. If I 



22 The Dutiful Child. 

hear a boy or girl saying : "I can't do that, 
I won't do that, I shall only do so and so," 
then I say to myself: "that child is not 
pleasing to God." Children are utterly 
without knowledge or experience, and if 
they were left to themselves, and allowed 
to do as they liked, they would get into a 
great deal of mischief, and fall into many 
sins. Therefore God has set parents over 
children, to guide them in His name. And 
thus a child, who obeys his parents, is fol- 
lowing God, he is led and guided by God's 
Hand. Such a child is blest ; he is like 
the divine Child Jesus, the only- begotten 
Son of God, the King of Heaven and earth 
Who was subject to a poor maiden and to 
a simple carpenter. 

In England, as you know, we do not 
work on Sunday, nor we do allow public 
amusements to go on. 

Once when the Prince of Wales happened 
to be in Paris on a Sunday, there was a race 
at which he much desired to be present. 

He sent a telegram to his mother to ask 
whether he might go, but she would not 
allow him to do so, and he could not dis- 



Honor thy Father and thy Mother* 23 

obey her. All the thoughtless world of 
Paris was touched and edified by this 
instance of filial piety. 

God Himself promises to all children 
who honor their father and mother His 
blessing and protection in this life, and 
eternal salvation in the next. "Honor 
thy father and thy mother, that thou mayst 
be long-lived upon the land, which the 
Lord thy God shall give thee." "Cursed 
be he who honoreth not his father and 
mother." Xot very long ago, this Divine 
curse fell in a terrible manner upon the 
son and daughter of a noble Belgian family 
who by every means in their power embit- 
tered the lives of their parents. The son 
was kicked by a horse and became a cripple 
for life, the daughter was seized with a 
terrible illness, which left her totally blind. 

"But he who to his father pays no heed, 
Nor cherishes his mother ; he shall lead 
E'en here below a life of grief and shame, 
And when he dies shall burn in endless flame." 

You should always be affectionate to your 
sisters and brothers ; never try to set your- 
self above them, do not be quarrelsome and 



24 The Dutiful Child. 

unyielding, obstinate and sullen. Be polite 
and obliging to those who are older than 
yourself, patient and unselfish to the 
younger ones ; look after these last so that 
no harm may happen to them, and that 
they may not do anything naughty, and 
always set them a good example. 

If a brother or sister does get into bad 
ways, then tell your parents, who will 
bring the culprit back into the right path. 

You must never be rude to your servants, 
nor look down upon them, nor plague them 
with unnecessary work. Good servants 
are one of the greatest blessings which a 
house can possess. 

If your grandfather and grandmother or 
any other relations live with you, always 
be courteous and respectful to them, and 
ready to perform for them any little service, 
and to do for them anything in your power. 

And lastly always honor old people. 
"Bise up before the hoary head, and hon- 
or the person of the aged man." 

Even heathen nations, like the Greeks 
and Eomans, reverenced gray-haired men 
and women, and God sometimes rewards 



Honor thy Father and thy Mother. 25 

this honor and reverence in a remarkable 
manner even in (his world. 

A Swiss girl recently came into posses- 
sion of a great inheritance in the following- 
manner. In 1SS0 she was standing in a 
great crowd near Buckingham Palace, in 
order to see the ladies going to the drawing- 
room, when an old gentleman was seized 
with giddiness, and fell unconscious to the 
ground. The girl hastened up to him, 
helped him to rise, took him into the near- 
est house, and did not leave him until he 
had quite recovered himself. Shortly after 
returning to her own country she received a 
letter from a London solicitor, saying that 
the old gentleman had died without heirs, 
and had bequeathed to her his whole fort- 
une, amounting to fifty thousand pounds. 

A friend of mine once related to me the 
following anecdote of his boyhood. '-One 
day, when I was about twelve years old, 
and was coming back from a hard day's 
work in the fields under the hot summer's 
sun, I met my father on his way into the 
nearest town. ; 'Kudolf. I wish you would 
take this parcel to town for me/' said he, 



26 The Dutiful Child. 

stopping short; "I intended to go myself, 
but I don't feel very well." I was tired, 
and therefore was not particularly pleased 
at having to walk the whole way to town, 
but I would not vex my father, so I took 
the parcel from him, and set off as fast as 
I could. When I got home again, our 
servants ran out to meet me, their eyes red 
with crying. "Your father has just died 
suddenly, " they said; "his last words 
were, 'Budolf has always been a good son 
to me.' " 

Children, always remember to behave to 
your parents in such a manner that they 
may be able to say on their deathbeds : 
"John or Mary has always been a good, 
dutiful child to me." Then you will al- 
ways think of the home of your childhood 
with joy and thankfulness. 

" Where ends our straggling village-street, 
Where runs the mill-stream flecked with foam, 

Its porch embowered in roses sweet, 
There stands my early childhood's home. 

My father and my mother dwell 

There still, and many a fervent prayer 

Those faithful hearts that love me well 
Have daily offered for me there. 



Honor thy Father and thy Mother. 27 

My cradle there you yet may see, 
My baby-lips there learned to pray, 

'Mid fancies bright and careless glee 
My happy boyhood passed away. 

Xo castle strong, nor mansion fair, 
No spot on earth where e'er I roam, 

Can with that lovely roof compare, 

My father's house, my childhood's home." 



OHAPTEE III. 
Church. 

"To church I gladly take my way, 
I know my Lord and God is there ; 
The organ sounds ; we kneel and pray, 
The clouds of incense fill the air." 

♦fjELESSED Germaine Cousine was a 
shepherdess. When she was sitting 
minding her sheep on the heath and heard 
the bells ringing for Mass, she would plant 
her crook firmly in the ground and bid the 
sheep remain near it till she came back. 
Then she hastened to the church and heard 
Mass with great devotion. As soon as the 
Holy Sacrifice was over, she returned to 
her flock, which she always found grazing 
in the same place, round the crook which 
she had stuck in the ground. 

Once she discovered that the brook 

which she had to cross, and was usually 

so shallow that she could easily wade 

through it, was swollen by the rains. Did 

(28) 



Church. 29 

she turn back? No she prayed to God, 
and then like St. Peter on the lake of Gen- 
nesareth, crossed the stream dryfoot, and 
after having heard Mass returned in the 
same wonderful manner. 

There is no walk which you can ever 
take, which is as full of blessing as the 
walk to church. 

A good child is glad to go to church ; he 
is attentive at Mass, listens to the sermon, 
if there is one, goes to Catechism and Bene- 
diction in the afternoon. Even on a week- 
day he goes to Mass if he can, for you all 
know that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the 
central point of our religion. Your cate- 
chism tells you that "Christ, Who offered 
Himself a bleeding victim on the Cross to 
His Heavenly Father, continues to offer 
Himself in an unbloody manner on the 
altar through the ministry of His priests. " 

From the Holy Mass graces and blessings 
flow in a constant stream; therefore you 
should always be present at it when you 
can. Directly you are inside the church 
take holy water, make the sign of the cross, 
and genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament. 



30 The Dutiful Child. 

Go to your place, take out your prayer- 
book or your rosary, and make your inten- 
tion. Offer the Mass up for your parents, 
or for yourself that you may never fall 
into mortal sin, or that you may obtain 
some special grace or even some temporal 
blessing. Offer up your prayers at Mass in 
union with the priest. Take care not to 
look about nor to talk and play with other 
children, nor to stare at the people who 
come in or go out. If you get rather tired 
of kneeling, or keeping still, or fixing your 
eyes on one spot, offer up the little discom- 
fort to our Lord in satisfaction for your 
sins. The church is the house of God, and 
a child who behaves irreverently there, 
draws down upon himself the anger of God. 
On the other hand God will bless you when 
you hear Mass devoutly, or listen atten- 
tively to the sermon or catechising. 

Besides hearing Mass you should often 
go and visit our Lord in the tabernacle. 
When you are doing an errand or going 
for a walk you will generally have time, if 
you are passing the church, to go in and 
kneel for a few minutes before the Blessed 



Church. 31 

Sacrament. St. Eose of Lima always did 
so. When she was about ten years old 
her parents, who were people of limited 
means, received the announcement that a 
certain outstanding debt must be paid 
without delay. Eose instantly betook her- 
self to church, and with ardent faith 
implored the help of Him who has said : 
"Coine unto Me, all you who labor and 
are heavy burdeneth, and I will refresh 
you/ 7 "When she left the church she met 
a man who put a parcel into her hands 
with the words : "Give that to your father 
and mother,'' and disappeared. "When 
the parcel was opened, it was found to 
contain the exact sum required. 

Blessed Herman Joseph never went to 
school without hearing Mass, and after 
school he always made a short visit to the 
Blessed Sacrament, after gathering flowers 
on the way, and putting them on the altar. 
One day a school-fellow gave him a big 
rosy apple. On entering the church he 
knelt down before the image of the Mother 
of God, bearing in her arms the Child Jesus 
and begged her to give the fruit to her 



32 The Dutiful Child 

Divine Son. And marvellous to relate, 
the Virgin Mother with a smile did so. 

A little German girl named Margaret 
was once taken by her father to church. 
They knelt down before an image of the 
Infant Jesus in the arms of his Mother, 
and in a few minutes the little maiden 
began to take off her shoes and stockings. 
"What are you about V asked her father. 
"The Holy Child must be very cold with 
those bare feet; I want to give Him my 
stockings/' she answered. 

A boy who serves at Mass enjoys a great 
honor, for he is near the altar, and so 
our Lord is very close to him, and showers 
blessings upon him. 

One day within the octave of Corpus 
Christi an old priest went up his church in 
order to say Mass again after a long illness. 
When he got into the sacristy he found a 
priest ready vested, waiting for a server. 
The old priest knelt down kissed the ring 
on the finger of the stranger, whom he 
recognized as the Cardinal Archbishop of 
the diocese, and humbly begged to be al- 
lowed to serve. When Mass was over the 



Church. 33 

Cardinal in his turn served the Mass of 
the poor priest. 

Stuart-Knill, lately Lord- Mayor of Lon- 
don, and Don Gabriel Garcia Moreno, 
president of Ecuador, never missed an 
opportunity of serving Mass. Therefore 
every boy should try and be very good, so 
as to be worthy to serve at the altar ; for 
only the best and steadiest boys ought to 
be chosen for such an office. 

Dear children, you should look upon the 
walk to church as the best you can take, 
and the church as your home, for there in 
the tabernacle dwells Jesus Christ, your di- 
vine Saviour, Who loves children so much, 
and Who invited them to Him with the 
words : l 'Sufi. er the little ones to come unto 
Me.' ? There every day the Holy Sacrifice, 
through which you get so many graces is 
offered up. There the word of God is 
preached, and you are told what you must 
do to get to Heaven. There in Holy Bap- 
tism you received the white garment of 
sanctifying grace, there you are confirmed, 
there your sins are forgiven, and there in 
Holy Communion our Lord Himself comes 
into your hearts. 



34 The Dutiful Child. 

There you see pictures of the saints, and 
are encouraged to follow their example. 
The organ peals majestically and the voices 
of the choir sing out clear and sweet, so that 
many are moved to tears, as was St. Au- 
gustine by the singing in Milan cathedral. 
Love the church, which is the house of 
God, be diligent in going to it, and devout 
when you are in it, for there are to be 
found the richest graces and the greatest 
blessings. If all men forsake you, if you 
can meet with no human help nor comfort, 
in the church dwells He Who will never 
abandon you. And if you have to go out in- 
to the great wide world, and your lot is cast 
among strangers, and you are often home- 
sick, go into a church, and you will find 
everything just as it is in your own coun- 
try, and peace will come back to your soul. 




CHAPTEE IV. 
School. 

"Go daily to school, and learn all you can, 
Then you'll be happy, when you are a man.'' 

'TTHE little grandson of Charles X, king 
of France, who later on became the 
Cointe de Chanibord, was just six years old 
when he began to learn to write, and it 
must be admitted that he wrote exceeding- 
ly badly. Like most healthy children, he 
was very fond of being out of doors, and of 
every sort of plays, and naturally making 
large letters in a copy-book was anything 
but a pleasure to him. Charles, who oc- 
casionally inspected his grandson's work, 
found the pages covered with a collection 
of horrible letters, adorned and joined 
together by numerous scratches. I am 
afraid that the writing-master spoiled his 
pupil, for the boy, when found fault with, 
would look up at his teacher with his frank 
blue eyes, plead so prettily for forgiveness, 
(35) 



36 The Dutiful Child. 

and make such excellent resolutions for 
the future, that as often as not the lesson 
was shortened, or even put off till the 
next day. 

But one morning all the wiles of the little 
prince failed to bring a smile to the lips of 
the old tutor, who seemed weighed down 
by unaccountable sadness. The child 
asked what was the reason of his sorrow, 
but could get no answer. Later on how- 
ever one of the servants informed him that 
the poor old man had to pay a debt of 
forty pounds for his son, and did not know 
where to get the money. The prince said 
nothing, but at breakfast he began in a 
very coaxing tone: "Grandfather, if I 
write very well indeed for a whole week, 
will you give me a nice present?" "Cer- 
tainly my darling." — "Will you give me 
forty pounds?" — "Forty pounds, that is 
rather a large sum ! What do you want it 
for?" — "I can't tell you, grandfather; it 
is a secret, but do let me have the money ! " 
The king laughed and promised. 

It was spring. The little prince worked 
at a window, which looked out upon the 



School. 37 

Tuileries. The birds sang, but he did not 
seem to hear them. Tame doves came and 
perched upon the window-sill, he never 
noticed them. The merry voices of chil- 
dren, playing under the trees, floated up 
to him on the breeze, he did not trouble 
himself about them. Very earnestly 
almost holding his breath with the effort, 
he strove to imitate the copy before him. 
Not a single blot, not one crooked stroke 
was to be found upon the whole page. The 
progress he made was really astonishing 
and the old tutor could not make it out at 
all, for this industry lasted for a whole 
week. When the boy finished his task 
with a fine up-stroke, he gave a shout of 
joy, and rushed off to show the copy-book 
to his grand-father. In a few minutes he 
was back again, holding tight in both 
hands a purse, containing forty pounds. 
He gave it to his tutor, saying with much 
excitement and delight : i 'Dear Sir, this is 
the reward for my week's work. That was 
why I was so attentive and industrious, I 
wanted to be able to earn this money for 
you." 



38 The Dutiful Child. 

Dear children, you should be grateful 
to your teacher. It is not likely that you 
can reward hiiu with money, but at least 
you can make his work in school easy by 
your diligence and attention. At school 
you learn to read and write and do sums, 
to draw and to sing hymns and songs ; you 
are taught about different plants and 
animals, and you hear a good deal of the 
history of your own country. 

But the most important part of your 
school-course is the Catechism. A late 
member of the French Senate, a deep 
thinker, an accomplished scholar, and one 
of the best lawyers in Prance said on his 
death-bed : u After a long life of study and 
reading, one recognizes when the hour of 
death draws nigh that all the truths worth 
knowing are contained in the Catechism. " 

In the Catechism we learn all that we 
must believe, also all that we must do to 
get to Heaven ; and so it is the most im- 
portant and most interesting book in the 
whole world. Learn the Catechism before 
anything else, never go to school without 
having got your lesson in it quite perfect. 



School. 39 

And you must also take pains to learn 
Scripture History, for without it you do 
not properly understand your Catechism. 
Always listen heedfully to the religious 
instruction, and try to keep it both in your 
memory and in your heart ; think about it 
sometimes during the day, and make it the 
guiding rule of your life. If you do that 
you will be on the right road to Heaven, 
for all your thoughts, words and actions 
will be regulated by the teaching of our 
holy Faith, and moreover you will be able 
to answer those who attack religion. 

An inspector at an examination once 
asked a child the following question: 
"Suppose that two pounds of meat were 
used every day in your house, and the 
meat was 8 pence a pound, how much 
would that come to in a week ?" 

The child began to reckon : "Twice 8 are 
16. Sixteen pence are 1 shilling, 4 pence ; 
six times 1 shilling, 4 pence make ten 
shillings." 

"Why, your week has only six days," 
said the inspector, < <I suppose you forgot 
Sunday." "Oh no," answered the child, 



40 The Dutiful Child. 

"I counted Sunday, but I left out Friday, 
because one does'nt eat meat that day." 

A poor widow once came to see the rec- 
tor of a church in Dublin, and besought 
him of his charity to do something for a 
son, who was a clever boy, very diligent 
and well instructed in his religion, and 
who ardently desired to enter the priest- 
hood, but was unfortunately situated, being 
the only Catholic in the school which he 
attended. He once, in the presence of the 
Protestant clergyman, defended the love 
and veneration shown by Catholics to the 
Blessed Virgin, about which his school- 
fellows were always teasing him. One 
day when the boys had been making game 
of him he begged leave of the head-master 
to prove to his companions, from the Bible 
to which, as is well known, all Protestants 
appeal, that Catholics are quite right in 
praising and honoring Mary. The master, 
who was a clergyman, consented, and the 
boy at once got upon a flight of steps, and 
bade his school-fellows take out their 
Bibles and turn in the first place to that 
passage where the angel Gabriel, sent by 



School 41 

God, salutes Mary as full of grace. "The 
angel Gabriel was sent from God into a 
city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin 
espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, 
and the virgin's name was Mary. And 
the angel being come in said unto her: 
'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, 
blessed art thou among women. ? " Then 
he made them read that other passage, 
which relates how Elizabeth, filled with 
the Holy Ghost greeted Mary as the blessed 
among women. i 'Elizabeth was filled with 
the Holy Ghost, and she cried out with a 
loud voice and said: 'Blessed art thou 
among women, and blessed is the fruit of 
thy womb. And whence is this to me that 
the mother of my Lord should come to 
me? 7 " 

Then this valiant champion of Mary's 
honor drew from the two texts the following 
conclusion: "When we Catholics honor 
Mary, we are only doing what was done by 
the angel, the messenger of God, and we 
imitate the example of Elizabeth, who was 
filled with the Holy Ghost. How can that 
be wrong ! You Protestants always assert 



42 The Dutiful Child. 

that you follow the Bible, but if you really 
did so you would, like us, salute and honor 
Mary. We Catholics follow the Bible in- 
deed." This speech pleased the master, 
who clapped the lad on the shoulder, say- 
ing: "I am not of your religion, but if you 
go on like this, you will be an honor to 
your Church one day." Such was the 
mother's story. The priest took charge of 
the boy, who in time became a priest and 
a religious, and is now one of the most 
popular preachers in Ireland. 

Nothing is so important as religious in- 
struction. A child, who learns his Cate- 
chism and Bible history well, will certainly 
give satisfaction to his teacher in other 
subjects. He sees what trouble a master 
takes to explain things, and make them 
clear, how day after day he spends five or 
six hours in school, how he sacrifices time 
and health to the boys and girls whom he 
teaches, and how nothing affords him 
greater pleasure than to see them making 
progress in learning and growing up good 
children. 

How can a child be lazy and vex his 
teacher 1 



School. 43 

Some travellers in Egypt once saw in a 
school-room in Cairo a peaked European 
hat hanging up on the wall. When they 
enquired of the master through the inter- 
preter the meaning of this hat, they were 
told that the punishment naughty children 
most dreaded was the wearing of it. Sure 
enough they found in another room a little 
boy standing in a corner with a hat of this 
kind on his head, and he seemed to be 
overwhelmed with shame. 

In our schools a dunce's cap is some- 
times put upon a naughty child's head, 
but no good boy or girl ought ever to 
deserve the punishment. 

Schools now-a-days are very different 
from what they were four hundred years 
ago. Then the master formed the letters of 
little bits of wood before the eyes of the 
children, who then arranged them alphabet- 
ically, and formed them into syllables and 
words. Sometimes the letters were made 
out of pastry, and given to the children to 
eat afterwards, or carved in birch-wood and 
ivory and used as playthings. In England 
children were sometimes taught to read by 



44 The Dutiful Child. 

a curious competition. They shot with 
bow and arrow at large painted letters, 
and those who hit a given letter and named 
it correctly, received a small reward. 

Now it is customary in many places for 
prizes to be bestowed upon the good and 
industrious children at the end of the year. 
But no prize can be compared with the feel- 
ing that God is pleased with you, and that 
your parents will stroke your heads and 
say : "You have been good children." 

Always then be diligent at your lessons. 
Be attentive at school, and prepare care- 
fully the work which is set for you to do 
at home. Before anything else learn your 
Catechism and Bible history thoroughly, so 
as to give satisfaction to your parish-priest 
and to your teachers, and then you are 
likely to grow up good men and women. 
It is also a very good thing to have a book 
on hand, to read at spare moments, but 
never buy or read any books without the 
knowledge of your parents. Show them 
every book you get ; for all books are not 
suitable for children. Not long ago two 
boys stole a large sum of money from their 



School. 45 

parents in order to go to North America ; 
the stories of robbers and of Indians, which 
they had read on the sly, put the idea into 
their heads. 

The reading of good and useful books in- 
creases knowledge, strengthens the reason, 
enriches the vocabulary, awakens a taste 
for intellectual pleasures, is a great pre- 
servative against dulness and ennui, and 
has an elevating effect upon the whole 
mind and disposition. Only you must not 
get into the habit of reading a book through 
at one sitting, and of so to say swallowing 
one book after another. You should read 
any book which is not a mere story slowly, 
attentively and intelligently, and some- 
times copy out the finest passages in a 
note-book, or tell your parents, or your 
brothers and sisters what you have been 
reading about. It is very pleasant for a 
family to read aloud in the evenings, par- 
ticularly in those of the long winter. 

Then the children have learnt their les- 
sons for the next day, the mother has fin- 
ished her work in the kitchen, and the father 
is resting in a comfortable arm chair after 



46 The Dutiful Child. 

the day's labor. "Let us have an hour's 
reading, " says someone, and instantly all 
gather round the table, where the eldest 
child has set the lamp ready, and is waiting 
book in hand. "How far had we got ? What 
were we reading about yesterday !" the 
father will ask, and when he has got an 
answer, the reading begins, and everyone 
listens with breathless interest. The broth- 
ers and sisters relieve each other, even the 
smallest likes to take his turn, and now 
and then the father interrupts the reader, 
in order to explain something so that the 
children may get all the good possible out 
of the book. 

An old proverb tells us that we do not 
learn only for our schooldays but for our 
whole lives. "Non scholae, sed vitae dis- 
eimus." Therefore learn diligently at 
school ; be good boys and girls, and then 
you will in later life be virtuous men and 
women. 



CHAPTEE V. 
A Christian Child's Day. 

"Across the old dial's stony face you see 

the sunbeams all 
But were it in a shady place 't would be 

no use at all. 
And so the child who does not raise his 

heart to God on high, 
Misspends and wastes the precious days 

so quickly passing by." 

TJlLL life is made up of single days; 
therefore if each day is well spent 
our whole life is right and well arranged, 
full of happiness and blessings. We ought 
to have a fixed rule for the day. How 
does a Christian child spend it ? You all 
know the hymn : 

"When morning gilds the skies 
My heart awaking cries: 
May Jesus Christ be praised !" 

Directly you awake make the sign of the 
cross. Then, as your Catechism tells you, 

(47) 



48 The Dutiful Child. 

1 'arise diligently and dress yourself mod- 
estly, " and when you are ready, kneel 
down and say your morning prayers rever- 
ently and attentively. Never forget to say 
a prayer to your guardian angel, nor to 
make the u good intention." Say: "I offer 
up all this day to Thy greater glory, my 
God. I intend to gain all the indulgences 
which are in my power. I unite myself to 
the masses and prayers which are being- 
offered, the good works which are being 
done throughout the world this day." 

In one of the Swiss cantons lived two 
little boys, who were good children. They 
never forgot their morning and evening 
prayer to their angel guardian, and if by 
any chance it slipped the memory of one, 
the other reminded him of it. One night 
their father, who slept in the room next 
to theirs, heard all on a sudden a loud 
noise. He jumped quickly out of bed, 
struck a light, and hurried into the chil- 
dren's room, where he perceived, to his 
great alarm, that part of the ceiling, had 
fallen just between the two little beds. 
He instantly snatched up the younger boy 



A Christian Childh Day. 49 

in his arms, woke the older one, and left 
the room as fast as possible with both of 
them. Scarcely had he done so, when the 
whole roof fell in. The boys are now stal- 
wart young men, but they still say the 
daily prayer to their angel guardian. 

In a lonely farm-house the mother of the 
family was, as she thought, the only person 
left at home one fine Sunday evening in 
summer. Her husband and children had 
gone out. After a while she thought that 
she would take a little walk in the fields, 
but as she was getting ready an extraor- 
dinary feeling of fear seized upon her. 
Nevertheless she went out, but before she 
had gone a hundred yards she felt as if 
something were dragging her home again, 
and though she could not account for it, 
she went back. She entered the sitting- 
room, it was empty. She looked through 
all the bed-rooms, the kitchen, the cellar ; 
nothing seemed wrong. But when she got 
to the stable she found one of the farm 
servants frightening her little ten years old 
daughter. Needless to say he was dis- 
missed, and the mother said to the tremb- 



50 The Dutiful Child. 

ling child: " Annie, you have to thank 
your guardian angel for my coming. " 

Whenever you can, go directly after 
breakfast to hear Mass, by so doing you 
bring a blessing on the whole day. Lessons 
next ; do them cheerfully, for if you do not 
learn when you are young you will never 
do so when you are old. 

It is a bad habit for a child to loiter 
about after school. You should run straight 
home, do your preparation for the next 
day, and then see if there is any work in 
which you can help your father and mother. 

If they do not want you, go and have a 
good game with your play-fellows, only be 
careful that you do nothing wrong at your 
play. 

Never sit down to table and never get 
up without saying grace. Eecollect that 
while you are being fed by your Father in 
Heaven many other children are hungry. 

In Paris there are always about six thou- 
sand children without food or shelter ; in 
Vienna nearly six hundred daily go dinner- 
less, and three hundred more have only a 
bit of dry bread, and another nine hundred 



A Christian Child's Day. 51 

only bread and coffee, or a few vegetables. 
An old workman used to say that he and 
his family always said grace, even when 
they had hardly a bit of meat or a drop 
of soup. 

Kever be greedy either about eating or 
drinking. Temperance is, as you know, 
one of the cardinal virtues, and if you 
practise it, it will help you to two other 
great virtues, meekness and purity. Take 
what is given to you at table, and never 
forget to say "thank you." Sometimes, if 
you have an opportunity, share something 
with a poor child, or help someone who is 
in want whilst you have plenty. 

It happened once that there was a fair 
in a certain village, and so a great many 
booths were set up, round which all the 
school children pressed eagerly, and those 
who had money quickly spent it. One 
little boy, finding himself without any, ran 
home to ask his parents for some. His 
mother gave him a shilling, and the child 
flew off at full speed to buy some sweets or 
cakes. On the way he met a poor woman 
pushing a little hand-cart full of broken 



52 The Dutiful Child. 

pieces of crockery. She had run into 
something on the road, and almost all the 
little stock of things which she was going 
to sell was broken to pieces. The boy 
stopped running, looked pitifully at the 
poor weeping woman, and gave her his 
money. The woman cast a grateful look 
on her little benefactor, and said: "You 
will think of me when the day comes that 
you stand at the altar. " Her words came 
true. He became a priest, and when he 
said his first Mass, he did indeed remem- 
ber the poor woman. 

Always end the day, as you began it, 
with prayer. Kneel down and say your 
evening prayers. Never forget to pray to 
St. Joseph for a happy death, to examine 
your conscience, and to make a good act 
of contrition. 

Many a child has died suddenly during 
the night. St. Joseph who is the patron 
of the dying will get you grace to die well. 

An Irish missionary, Fr. CVHaire, had 
been for several years in charge of a dis- 
trict in South Africa nearly as large as the 
whole of England. From time to time he 



A Christian Child's Day. 53 

visited his widely scattered flock. On one 
of these rounds he quite lost the track, and 
wandered about without knowing where 
he was. At last however, he came upon 
some human habitations, and found at 
work in front of one of the houses a peas- 
ant who exclaimed: "You come in the 
nick of time ; a man in yonder house is 
lying at the point of death. " The priest 
hastened in, and as he opened the door of 
the sick-room the dying man exclaimed 
with tears of joy, and with an expression 
of the most heartfelt thankfulness: u O 
blessed Joseph, I was sure that you would 
send me a priest before my death. 7 ' ' l What 
do you mean? " asked the missionary. 
The man answered: "I am an Irishman. 
When I was a little boy, my good mother 
taught me to say every day this short 
prayer : 'Holy St. Joseph obtain for me 
by thy prayers the grace of a happy death, ' 
and throughout my life I have never omit- 
ted it. For one-and-twenty years I was in 
the army and came to Africa in consequence 
of the war with the Kaffirs. When the 
war was over, I remained in these parts, 



54 The Dutiful Child. 

and soon fell seriously ill. I prayed to St. 
Joseph every day with increased fervor, 
and you see, to-day he has sent me a priest 
quite unexpectedly. " The next day the 
man died. 

So my dear children say every evening : 
"Blessed Joseph obtain for me the grace 
of a happy death. " 

Undress yourself modestly, and when 
you get into bed make the sign of the cross, 
and say some little prayer, so that your 
"last thoughts'- may, as the Catechism 
says, be given to your crucified Saviour. 

Many children repeat the pretty old rime: 

"I lay my body down to sleep, 
I give my soul to Christ to keep ; 
Wake I the morn, or wake I never, 
I give myself to Him forever." 

If two or three children sleep in the same 
room they should not talk and laugh after 
they have said their prayers. The < 'enemy ' ' 
in the parable sowed tares " whilst men 
slept ;" do not give him a chance of plant- 
ing weeds in your hearts. 

Such is the rule of life which a Christian 
child should follow. If he observes it, each 



A Christian Child's Day. 55 

day will be like a lovely day in spring, full 
of sweet scents and fresh air; the sweet 
scents of virtue, and the air of God's grace. 
The blessing of God will rest upon his 
day's work, he will spend a happy and 
cheerful life, and when death comes he will 
gain Heaven as a reward. 




CHAPTEK VI. 
The Priest. 

"Christian children ought to pay 
Honor to a priest alway." 

7THE holy Cure d'Ars used to say: "If I 
were to come across in the street an 
angel and a priest at the same time I should 
greet first the priest, and then the angel, 
for the angel is God's messenger, but the 
priest His representative." Good children 
are glad when they meet their parish-priest 
in their walks, they greet him respectfully, 
and shake hands with him. In the Tyrol 
people kiss a priest's hand, saying at the 
same time : "Praised be Jesus Christ." 

The priest is God's representative, he is 
our spiritual father, he looks after our 
souls. He confers upon us holy Baptism, 
he instructs us in our religion, he absolves 
us from sin, he feeds us with the Bread of 
of Life, he comforts us in sickness, and 
gives us the sacrament of Extreme Unction. 

(56) 



The Priest. 57 

His love and his blessing are with us from 
the cradle to the grave. Nay even long 
after our death he still prays for us. 
Ought we not then to love and honor the 
priest and show him gratitude ? 

In a district of the Jura there had lived 
and worked for forty years a holy priest 
named Peter Joseph Mouttet. This truly 
apostolic man was a living example of 
Christian charity; he only lived for the 
poor and for his flock. Fifteen years before 
his death the good old man was struck 
x^ith blindness, but in spite of this afflic- 
tion he continued to discharge his priestly 
functions to the best of his power ; when 
he could not administer the consolations of 
religion he prayed. Owing to his age and 
his broken health the government of Berne 
treated him indulgently at the time of per- 
secution, and he was not compelled to go 
into exile. The sad year of 1872, was 
doubly hard to him, for in consequence of 
the fact that no Catholic priest was allowed 
to remain in the country round, he was 
overwhelmed with work. In the middle of 
the night he would get up and undertake 



58 The Dutiful Child. 

with a guide a mountain journey of several 
hours, in order to give the Last Sacraments 
to the dying. As Easter drew near, this 
zealous pastor of souls spent, so to speak, 
the night and day in the confessional. He 
felt no weariness when the saving of a soul 
was concerned. On Good Friday he heard 
confessions from mid-day to ten o'clock at 
night. At four o'clock on Easter Sunday 
morning he was again in the confessional, 
and only left it at nine for the altar. 
Though tired to death, he would not miss 
singing Mass on Easter Sunday, even when 
a barn had to do duty for a church. He 
sang in a loud voice, preached in clear and 
distinct tones after the Gospel a sermon 
which deeply moved his hearers, and then 
continued the Holy Sacrifice. When he 
was pronouncing the words of the Sanctus, 
he was seized with faintness, but recover- 
ing himself he consecrated the Body and 
Blood of his risen Saviour, received Holy 
Communion, then sank down at the foot of 
the altar, and gave up his soul to Him 
Who has said: "I am the Eesurrection 
and the Life." 



The Priest. 59 

See children how a Catholic priest lives 
and dies. 

When that fearfnl and fatal sickness of 
the East, namely, the plague, breaks out 
in Jerusalem one of the Franciscan fathers, 
belonging to the church of the Holy Sepul- 
chre, is told off expressly for the care of 
the plague- stricken. He says Mass, and 
then, strengthened by the Body and Blood 
of our Lord against the danger in store for 
him, he devotes himself entirely to the 
service of the sick. 

In order not to expose his brethren to 
infection, he does not return to the monas- 
tery, as long as his perilous employment 
lasts. Every day, at an appointed hour 
he rings a bell outside the monastery as a 
sign that the terrible disease has spared 
him so far. If the bell does not ring, the 
inmates of the monastery know that he is 
dead, and another brother instantly pre- 
pares to take his place, and to sacrifice his 
life in the discharge of his priestly duties. 
In 1832 twenty Franciscans fell thus a 
prey to the terrible epidemic. 

Xext to God everything depends on a 



60 The Dutiful Child. 

parish-priest. Leave a place a hundred 
years without a pastor, and the people, as 
a rule, will sink into heathenism. There- 
fore honor and love priests whether they 
are religious or secular, still more bishops, 
who are set over dioceses, and the Pope 
who has to govern the whole Catholic 
Church. Pray for the pastors of souls, 
and never take part with their enemies. 
There are wicked men, who are full of 
bitter hatred to the clergy, nay whom the 
very sight of a priest excites to fury. Such 
people are urged on by the devil, who can- 
not endure priests, because they tear souls 
from his grasp, and as he is a liar and the 
father of lies, his accomplices spread abroad 
every kind of falsehood against the clergy. 
We need not feel any surprise, for the 
enemies of our Divine Lord did the same 
thing to Him. They said that He deceived 
the people, and led them astray, and that 
He blasphemed God. Jesus foretold that 
they would treat His apostles and their 
successors in the same way. So if you 
come across a man who makes a mock of 
the priesthood, have nothing to do with 



The Priest. 61 

him. Keep out of his way, and do not 
trust him, for you may be sure that he 
means no good to you. Very often God 
punishes people of that kind in a terrible 
manner even in this world. 

In Belgium there was once a boy who 
constantly laughed at priests, and made 
derisive imitations of their sacred duties. 
He would often bring sabred pictures into 
school and tear them up before the eyes of 
his companions, who all scorned and 
avoided him. His elder brother, two 
classes higher in school, was of the same 
stamp, and would often say: "I should 
like to be a millionaire, in order to devote 
all my fortune to the destruction of the 
clergy/' The vengeance of God was not 
long in overtaking these two ; when they 
grew up they fell deeper and deeper into 
sin, and in 1883 were both condemned to 
death for a horrible murder. 



CHAPTEB VII. 
The Daisies. 

Daisy means the eye of day 

listen what it teaches; 
Much one little word can say, 

Thus, I think, it preaches : 

Do the thing that's brave and right, 
Day's eye boldly meeting, 

Shunning not the open light, 
Give it fearless greeting. 

I*et your words be sweet and kind, 
True and just your dealing, 

Pure and good your thoughts and mind, 
Nothing ill concealing. 

Think upon the Bye of Day, 

That forever sees us, 
When we work or talk or play; 

For our Day is Jesus. 

ilVICTUEES generally represent Saint 
"^ Aloysius holding a lily, which is a 
symbol of his purity of heart, because he 
never throughout his life lost his baptismal 
innocence. But for my part, I often think 

(62) 



The Daisies. 63 

that the little daisies, growing all over the 
fields, with their pure white petals and 
golden centres, are more like innocent 
children. Purity is a child's greatest 
treasure, and nothing is more beautiful or 
holy or pleasing in the sight of God than 
an unstained child's heart. Your greatest 
care ought to be to keep yourselves good 
and pure, so that you may be able to say 
with St. Casimir of Poland: "I would 
rather die than run the risk of losing my 
innocence. " 

But you must be watchful and brave, 
for you know, as the Catechism tells you, 
that a Christian has to fight against his 
enemies "all the days of his life. " When 
the devil puts bad thoughts into your 
heart, say a little prayer, and then turn 
your mind to other things. If you have 
any bad companions, who try to teach you 
evil, go away, and never play with them, 
and tell your parents about them. 

If you are puzzled about anything that 
you want to know, go and ask your par- 
ents, and if they tell you that you are too 
young to understand be satisfied ; there is 
plenty of time before you. 



64 The Dutiful Child. 

Always recollect that it is tolerably easy 
to resist temptation at its beginning, but if 
you delay, it gets much stronger. Never 
say bad words, nor let other children say 
them before you, for that is taking part in 
their sin. When you come out of school, 
keep in the playground of the boys, if you 
are a boy, and of the girls, if you are a girl, 
and play with your own companions. 

Never be idle ; do something, be it work 
or play. If you have to mind cattle or 
sheep you can often gather wood for the 
fire meantime, or sometimes you can read 
without neglecting your work. 

But, when all is said and done there is 
no defence against temptation like prayer. 
Therefore pray every day, night and morn- 
ing, that you may be pure and good, and 
especially invoke the aid of your immacu- 
late Mother. Father Zucchi, a holy Italian 
priest once wrote in a letter to a friend 
that he had never in his life stained his 
soul with a sin of impurity and that he at- 
tributed this grace to the protection of the 
Blessed Virgin, to whom he consecrated 
himself in boyhood. Lastly always ap- 



The Daisies. 65 

proack the sacraments of Penance and of 
the Holy Eucharist at least once a month. 
The sacrament of Penance gives you special 
graces in order to enable you to lead a vir- 
tuous life and at the same time you have 
in your confessor a kind and faithful friend, 
to whom you should confide your tempta- 
tions, doubts and dangers, and who will 
give you such advice and instruction as are 
suitable to your state and circumstances. 

Many children have been saved from 
ruin by the sacrament of Penance. And 
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, 
Jesus Christ Himself, He Who is all-pure 
and all-holy, comes into your heart, bring- 
ing with Him all graces in abundance. 

St. Philip Neri, who spent so much time 
with children, used to say: "Frequent 
Communion, joined with devotion to the 
Mother of God, is not only merely the best, 
but the only means of preserving purity of 
character, and nourishing the life of faith 
in a boy or girl." And his worthy son, 
Cardinal Xewman, says in one of his ser- 
mons : " It is the boast of the Catholic Eelig- 
ion that it has the gift of making the young 



66 The Dutiful Child. 

heart chaste, and why is this but that it 
gives us Jesus for our food, and Mary for 
our nursing Mother ? ? } 

"How do you manage to go on your way 
without stumbling V was the question 
once put to a boy of fourteen. "This is my 
secret, " he answered ; "ever since my First 
Communion I have made it a rule to go to 
Confession and Communion every week." 

Do you follow his example, and you will 
remain pure and innocent even in the 
midst of evil, like those little gleaming 
silver fish, which do not lose their bright- 
ness even in a muddy pond, as you can 
see when they are put into fresh water. 

Can there be anything more beautiful 
than a pure child's soul? It is truly a 
lovely sight when the sky is rosy with the 
light of the rising or setting sun, when the 
clouds are golden-skirted, and when the 
landscape is bathed in glowing purple. 
Glorious is the noonday splendor of the 
sun in a cloudless sky, when the earth 
seems to be clothed in a veil of brightness. 

Beautiful again is the silvery light of the 
moon, which, to quote Faber, "makes a 



The Daisies. 67 

fairy-land of fallow fields at night." But 
fairer than all this beauty of earth is a soul 
which lies before the all- seeing eye of God, 
unpolluted by the breath of sin, and shin- 
ing with the radiance of sanctifying grace. 
So lovely is it that the Holy Ghost Himself 
cries out in admiration : "O! how beauti- 
ful is the chaste generation with glory ; for 
the memory thereof is immortal, because it 
is known both with God and with men." 




CHAPTEE VIII. 
Two bad things. 

"Dare to be true ; nothing can need a lie 
The fault that needs it most grows too 
thereby.' ' 

TirtJ HEN St. Francis of Sales was a little 
boy, his mother used often to say 
to him: "Never tell lies, dear Francis. 
Falsehood puts a man to shame before 
God, before his fellows, and before his own 
conscience. Falsehood comes from the 
devil and makes us his children. " 

And so, dear children I say to you: 
Never tell lies. "Lying lips are an abom- 
ination to the Lord," we find in Holy 
Scripture. Even many heathens abhorred 
falsehood. The Emperor Claudius decreed 
that a certain Roman, who had been a 
notorious liar, should at his death be de- 
prived of funeral rites, that his house 
should be razed to the ground, and that 
his family should be banished forever from 

the city. 

(68) 



Two bad tilings. 69 

Think how detestable lying is. God has 
given you a tongue, in order to enable you 
to speak and you use it to tell untruths ! 
Your Lord and God has often lain on your 
tongue in Holy Communion, and you dare 
to stain that tongue with falsehood. 

When Washington, the great President 
of the United States, was a little boy, 
someone gave him an ax as a present. By 
way of trying its edge he stripped all the 
bark from a fine cherry-tree, which his 
father had planted, and which died in con- 
sequence. His father, who did not know 
the author of the mischief, was both grieved 
and angry, and said that he would rather 
have spent a hundred dollars than that the 
little tree should have been killed. As his 
son was passing he asked: "George, do 
you know who has spoilt this tree? 7 ' 
George was rather frightened, but pulled 
himself together directly, and said : u Fath- 
er, I cannot tell a lie ; it was I who did it. ' ' 
His father was so overjoyed at this love of 
truth that he took the little lad in his 
arms, saying: "Your truthfulness and 
uprightness have made ample amends to 



70 The Dutiful Child. 

me for the loss of the cherry-tree ; they are 
worth more in my eyes than a thousand 
trees laden with the choicest fruit." 

An English steamer was on her way from 
Liverpool to America. On the fourth day 
of the voyage when the ship was right out 
in the open sea, a little boy was discovered 
hidden among the boxes and bales of wares. 
He was quite alone, and no one on board 
knew anything about him. He was poorly 
dressed, but truth and innocence looked 
out of his fearless blue eyes. "Why did 
you hide yourself here?' ' asked the captain. 
The child answered: "My step-father put 
me here, because he said he could not keep 
me any longer, and he could not raise the 
passage-money to Halifax, where my aunt 
lives. I want to go to my aunt." The 
captain did not believe this story, for he 
had often been taken in before. So he said 
with a stern expression: "If you don't 
tell me the truth in ten minutes, I'll have 
you hung up to the mast." Tears sprang 
into the boy's eyes, he knelt down on the 
deck, clasped his hands, repeated the "Our 
Father" and the "Hail Mary", adding: 



Two bad tilings. 71 

"Sweet Mother of God, take me to Heaven 
with you, I am ready to die, but I cannot 
tell a falsehood." Everyone was touched, 
and the captain himself got up a collection 
for the child, so that his passage was paid. 

You see that God sometimes rewards 
truth even in this world. 

Xever tell a lie ; even a small falsehood 
sometimes has very serious consequences. 
A well-to-do merchant had brought up with 
his son Charles a foster-brother named 
Antony. One day when the two boys were 
playing at ball in the court-yard, Charles 
threw the ball so awkwardly that it went 
through the window of his father's study, 
breaking it to pieces, and fell upon the 
writing-table. The father went to the 
window, and called out angrily: "Who 
did that ? ' ' Charles answered in his fright : 
"It was Antony who threw the ball." 
"Wait a minute," cried the merchant, 
"and I'll punish you well, Antony." An- 
tony, frightened, ran out of the court- 
yard, did not come back to supper, and in 
short, utterly disappeared. Some years 
afterwards, when Charles was a grown 



72 The Dutiful Child. 

man, he met a poor basket-maker who had 
lost one foot, and with whom he entered 
into conversation. To his amazement he 
discovered that this was his run-away 
foster-brother. Antony had been picked 
up by a troop of gypsies, with whom he 
wandered about for a time. Finally he 
enlisted, and went to Algiers where he was 
shot in the foot. You can picture Charles' 
grief and remorse. He took the poor man 
into his house, and provided for him amp- 
ly, but he could not restore the lost foot, 
nor make up for the years of unhappiness. 

(Of course Antony's flight was also a 
fault, for which he had to atone bitterly.) 

Do not even tell falsehoods in play, for 
they sometimes have very serious results. 
In 1867, the boys of a town on the Elbe 
had formed a habit of shouting, when they 
were bathing: "Help, help! I am drown- 
ing! " And of course people ran to their 
help, but there was no need, for it was 
only a fake. The swimming master had 
often forbidden them to play the trick, but 
with small success. One day a school-boy 
as usual, called for help, and his compan- 



Two bad things* 73 

ions, supposing liim to be in play, paid no 
attention to his shouts so that he was 
drowned. 

It is also a sin when anyone tries to 
make himself out more holy and better 
than he is, that is called hypocrisy. It is 
a sin to repeat to others what one has 
heard said about them, that is tale-bearing. 
It is a sin to suspect one's neighbor of evil 
without sufficient ground, that is harboring 
false suspicion ; and to hold a deliberate 
conviction of the wrong doing of another 
without reasonable proof, is rash judgment. 
Lastly it is sinful to accuse a person un- 
truly to others, or to magnify the faults 
which he really has, or to speak of them 
without necessity; the first is calumny, 
the second detraction. 

Keep yourself from all this. If you hear 
anyone falsely spoken of ; stand up for him, 
or else begin to talk about the weather or 
your games; the evil tongues will often 
become silent. 

But of course it may sometimes be neces- 
sary to tell your parents of serious faults in 
your brothers and sisters or school-fellows, 
which are likely to do harm to others. 



74 The Dutiful Child. 

Never tell lies ! Everyone loves and res- 
pects a truthful and straightforward child; 
he is a joy to God and men. 

A good writer of the day says : i 'If truth 
is to be found in your words, that is a sign 
that the spirit of God dwells in you and 
one day you will go to dwell with Him. 
But if you tell lies you have given the devil 
rule over your soul, and after death you 
will fall absolutely into his power. Do 
not think to excuse yourself by saying that 
your falsehoods have never done harm to 
anyone. It is quite certain that in every 
instance a great deal of harm was done to 
one person, namely to yourself, for every 
untruth brands the soul as with a hot-iron 
from hell. A Christian never says inten- 
tionally what is false, and should not even 
do so even to gain some great advantage 
or to save his life or even, if it were pos- 
sible, to gain the whole world, for every 
lie is a sin, and every sin is a service 
rendered to the devil." 

Falsehood is also dangerous, because it 
in many cases leads to stealing. It is true 
that children, as a rule, steal only small 



Two bad things. 75 

things, but little by little the desire for 
getting things grows, and a person commits 
serious thefts. How many die in prison, 
who as school-children only stole slate- 
pencils and knitting-needles! A man was 
lately executed for burglary and murder, 
who in boyhood purloined pens, paper and 
fruit from his companions. One begins 
with small things, one ends with great! 
Therefore, children never steal the tiniest 
things, not a bit of sugar, nor an apple, nor 
a half-penny. "He that stealeth anything 
from his father or from his mother, and 
saith this is no sin, is the partner of a mur- 
derer, 1 ' we read in the Book of Proverbs. 
Never say: "Oh! it does'nt matter, I 
only did it once." What is once done can 
never be undone, and a person who has 
once stolen anything can never all his life 
long say truly and joyfully: "Thank God, 
I have never touched my neighbor's prop- 
erty," and it sometimes happens that a boy 
is caught and imprisoned for his first theft. 
Besides evil ways once begun are common- 
ly continued. "He who says A must say 
B too," and then as another proverb tells 



76 The Dutiful Child. 

us: "The pitcher goes so often to the well 
that it is broken at last." 

If you have stolen anything, make up 
for your wrong-doing as soon as you can. 
A mother once went into the bed-room of 
her little girl who said crying: "Mother, I 
can't go to sleep." "Why not? what is 
the matter." — "I did something naughty 
to-day, I stole a half -penny, do forgive me." 
—-"I will say no more about it this time," 
said her mother, "because you have hon- 
estly confessed your fault, but never touch 
anything again." 

A butcher in Basle once got a letter from 
a girl asking his pardon, because two years 
before she had stolen a piece of money 
which was lying unnoticed on the counter. 
A shillings- worth of stamps was enclosed 
by way of restitution. 

Never forget children that to be contented 
is to be happy. "A glad heart maketh a 
cheerful countenance." Always try to be 
satisfied with what falls to your lot. I 
have often, when travelling in Italy, met 
with children, who scarcely tasted a bit of 
bread all daylong. "I am so hungry," 



Two bad things. 77 

said once to nie a pale little fellow who was 
crying bitterly, c <I have had nothing to eat 
for two days." — "Italy is called the Garden 
of Europe," said a beggar; "the Garden 
of Misery would be a better name for it." 
In England forty years ago, the lot of many 
children was very hard, for at the age of 
nine, eight, seven, and even six, they were 
employed in the factories, where they 
worked from ten to fourteen hours a day, 
with very little interval for rest. In vain 
the poor little things complained, at the 
end of the day, of faintness and pains in 
their limbs; their masters and too often 
their parents, only answered them with 
blows and kicks, as though their want of 
strength had been a crime. Many children 
died of sheer exhaustion. They might 
truly say in the pathetic words of the poem 
entitled, "The Cry of the Children :" 

"Few paces have we taken, yet are weary ! 
Our grave-rest is very far to seek." 

In France, poor little girls of seven years 
old, were wakened from sleep in mid- win- 
ter, and were taken, crying and shivering 



78 The Dutiful Child. 

with cold, out of their homes to work in 
the factories. 

Now ought you not to be very thankful, 
for you are a thousand times better off 
than were those poor little creatures? What 
God appoints for us — is best for us. Eiches 
by themselves do not make anyone happy. 
Innocence, piety and the fear of the 
Lord are the real wealth of the Christian. 
Therefore did the elder Tobias say : "Fear 
not my son ; we lead indeed a poor life, 
but we shall have many good things if we 
fear God, and depart from all sin and do 
that which is good." And let us not for- 
get the beautiful words of St. Paul : "Hav- 
ing food and raiment let us be content. " 

Always be upright and honest! "Hones- 
ty is the best policy, " and it is often 
rewarded by God even in this world. 

A few years ago there lived in Brussels 
a rich gentleman, who wanted to find out 
how many honest people there were in the 
town. So one day he ensconced himself in 
the tram-car close to the conductor, and 
when the people paid their fare and got 
change, he secretly added sixpence to the 



Two bad things. 79 

change. He went on through the whole 
morning without hearing anyone say that 
he or she had got too much back, but 
about mid-day a poorly dressed girl said: 
"Why, conductor, you've given me six- 
pence over the proper change." Later on 
the gentleman made inquiries about her, 
and as he found that she bore an excellent 
character, but was poor, and as. he had 
no relations, he left her all his fortune. 

Two gentlemen were once standing at 
the door of an Edinburgh hotel, when a 
poor bare-footed boy of not more than ten 
years old, shivering under his rags, came 
up, and begged them to buy a box of 
matches from him. — "No! I don't want 
any," said one of them. "But the box 
only costs a penny." — "I dare say but you 
see I don't want any." The boy seemed 
to consider for a moment, and at last said: 
"Well, I'll let you have two boxes for a 
penny." Out of pity for the little fellow 
one of the gentlemen at last took a box, 
but finding that he had no small change, 
gave it back, saying: "Come back to-mor- 
row, and I will buy it; I have got no 



80 The Dutiful Child. 

change."— "Oh! do buy it to-day, I am so 
hungry," pleaded the poor child ; "I will 
run and get you change." The gentleman 
gave, him a shilling, and the boy ran off ; 
some time passed but no boy came back. 

Late in the evening a waiter entered the 
gentleman's room, saying that a little boy 
wanted to speak to him. It was the 
younger brother of the match- seller, if 
possible a still poorer, more miserable 
and ragged specimen. He asked: "Are 
you the gentleman who bought my brother 
Charlie's matches to-day?" — "Yes." — 
"Very well," said the child, rumaging in 
his pockets, "here is a fourpence out of 
your shilling. Charlie can't come ; he is ill. 
He was knocked down by a cart, and run 
over, and he lost his cap, and the matches, 
and your shilling, and both his legs are 
broken, so he's very bad, and the doctor 
says he can't live long." And so saying 
the little boy burst out crying. Charlie 
did die. But his honesty had its reward, 
for from that day forth the strange gentle- 
man took charge of his equally honest 
little brother. 



Two bad things. 81 

When Blessed Benedict Labre was a boy- 
he was sent by his uncle to gather straw- 
berries for the table. While he was busily 
engaged in doing so a little girl of about 
seven came up to him, and begged him to 
give her some fruit. Benedict answered 
that he could not give them away, but that 
he would gladly do so, if she would go to 
his uncle, and get leave. The child came 
back, saying: "I did not get leave, but 
never mind, give me some, your uncle will 
not know." — "Even if uncle never finds 
it out," objected Benedict, "God will see 
us." "Well, and what will happen to us? 
I don't want many, two will be enough, it 
is only a little thing for you to do." — "A 
little thing do you call it?" answered Bene- 
dict, l 'how can it be a little thing if it offends 
God?" And the boy steadily refused to 
give her the strawberries, and begged her 
earnestly to remember her thoughtlessness 
when she went to confession. 

Try and imitate little Benedict, who grew 
up to be a great saint ; be truthful in the 
smallest things, never tell the least false- 



82 The Dutiful Child. 

hood, nor commit the tiniest theft. Ee- 
member the verse : 

"I must not tell the smallest lie 
To help my friends, ah! no! 
Nor for the earth, nor sea, nor sky, 
Because God hates it so." 







CHAPTEE IX. 
Every one's darling. 

"When adorning, let it not be the out- 
ward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing 
of gold, or the putting on of apparel : but 
the hidden man of the heart in the incor- 
ruptibility of a quiet and a meek spirit." 

TKANCES and Frank were the children 
of poor people, but they had a very 
happy life, for all the boys and girls in the 
place were fond of them. 

They were so modest and gentle, so 
polite and friendly with their play-fellows, 
that even the roughest children felt drawn 
to them. They never missed an opportun- 
ity of doing a kindness, or giving pleasure 
to a school-fellow. They would help one 
child with a task, lend another a slate, 
pencil or ruler, they would go to see anyone 
who was ill, they would share their bit of 
bread or their apple with those who were 
poorer than themselves. They were always 
(83) 



84 The Dutiful Child. 

in the thick of the merriest games, and 
their little faces twinkled all over, when a 
bit of fun was going on. They were never 
quarrelsome, if a dispute seemed likely to 
begin, they ran off. They were "ond of 
playing harmless tricks, and took a little 
teasing very good-temperedly. It was not 
surprising that they were popular with 
other children. 

Even grown-up people noticed Frances 
and Prank. "Who are those nice children, 
who speak so pleasantly? and the boy 
takes off his cap so politely?" they would 
enquire. If anyone asked a question of 
them the children always answered to the 
best of their power, they were ready to 
show a stranger the way, to carry a bundle 
for an old woman, or push a barrow for an 
old man. Their great delight was to meet 
the schoolmaster or mistress or, still better 
the parish priest, out of doors. They ran 
to meet them with outstretched hand, greet- 
ing them with the beautiful salutation of 
their country: "Praised be Jesus Christ." 
And when the priest let them come a little 
way with him they had plenty to tell their 
parents about his kindness. 



Every one's darling. 85 

Frances and Frank were quite as good 
at home, as they were out of doors. 
They did not grumble if one had a larger 
apple than the other, and did not behave 
like the children, who lived next door, 
when their mother once brought them 
home a cake, saying : ( 'There is a cake for 
you, now divide it." "How shall we 
divide it? " asked Fritz the little boy. 
"Divide it like Christian children. " — 
"What does that mean, Mother. 7 ' — "It 
means that whichever of you cuts the cake 
manages that the other shall have the larg- 
est share !" — "Emma, you cut it!" said 
Fritz. Frances and Frank were always 
ready to help their little sister or brother 
in any difficulty, and if they knew that 
their parents wanted anything done, they 
did not wait to be told to do it. They 
never forgot to thank anyone for what was 
given to them. 

Now do you not think that anyone would 
have loved such modest and humble chil- 
dren? Humility is beautiful and well- 
pleasing in God's sight, pride hateful. A 
proud child is disobedient, stubborn with 



86 The Dutiful Child. 

his parents and superiors, obstinate and 
wilful ; he will not bear a word of reproof 
said to him, he is quarrelsome with other 
children, he always thinks himself right, 
he loses his temper easily, he will not own 
his shortcomings, and always wants to 
have the upper hand. Therefore, my dear 
children, never let pride rule either your 
thoughts or speech, for it is the beginning 
of all evil. "God resisteth the proud, but 
giveth His grace to the humble. " 

Be always modest and humble, cheerful 
and kind, and you will be beloved by God 
and man. 



CHAPTER X. 
The Savings-Box. 

"If you waste your pennies now when you 

are young, 
You will waste your sovreigns when you're 

older grown, 
Would you have some savings ? — learn 

this simple rule, 
Take care of the pennies, leave the pounds 

alone." 

♦II* AYE you begun to save yet children ! 
If you have not, ask your parents to 
buy you an earthenware or metal savings- 
box, and put in all the pence that you get. 
Once you try to save, you cannot think 
how easy it is. If your uncle gives you a 
sixpence what do you do ? Eun off to the 
sweet-shop, I dare say. You had much 
better put it in your money-box, eating 
sugar and sweetmeats spoils your digestion 
and ruins your teeth. Or perhaps you go 
to wish your aunt a happy birthday, and 
she gives you a little tip. If it is winter- 
(87) 



88 The Dutiful Child. 

time you often buy the roasted chestnuts 
which are sold at the street-corners, but 
after all they are soon gone, and if you 
put the money aside your little store 
grows steadily bigger like the trees that 
were planted last year. When you are 
older perhaps you pass an examination, 
and get a certificate, and your parents give 
you half-a-crown they are so pleased. 
Perhaps a boy will buy a new knife, and a 
girl some bit of finery, but it is better to 
put the money into your savings-box. 

And saving money is not the only way 
of being economical. You should take 
care of your clothes, your books and slates, 
and your playthings. Mend anything 
directly that has got out of repair, for as 
the proverb says : "A stitch in time saves 
nine." 

Two little boys, named Albert and Al- 
fred, were once sitting in a public garden, 
talking about what they would do when 
they were grown up. Albert wanted to 
keep a shop. Alfred to be a blacksmith. 
"You will never come to any good," sud- 
denly broke in an old gentleman who had 



The Savings-Box. 89 

unobserved been listening to them. The 
boys started. "Why not !" they asked. 
"You are the children of respectable peo- 
ple, I can see that by your clothes, but 
you seem destined to become beggars, or 
you would never put up with those holes in 
your sleeves. If they had been mended at 
once they would only have needed a stitch 
or two, but now they are long past that." 
The boys were ashamed, and went silently 
home. Albert worked his elbow about in 
his sleeve, so that the rent went a great 
deal farther, and had to be properly 
mended. He got the servant to teach him 
to sew, so that if no one had time to mend 
a hole, he could do it himself. And so he 
became orderly, and when he grew up was 
always neatly dressed, and was a respect- 
able man with a comfortable income. 
Alfred, unfortunately for himself, did not 
take matters so seriously. He soon lost 
what little money he possessed, and became 
literally a beggar. 

A little Savoyard sat one day on a stone 
bench in front of the palace of the arch- 
bishop of Treves; by his side stood the 



90 The Dutiful Child. 

cage with his maruat. The boy was sad, 
for his takings had been very small. The 
archbishop came by and said to the child : 
"Why don't you sing?" — "I feel more 
inclined to cry," was the answer, "I can 
hardly earn anything." The bishop in- 
stantly bought the maruat from him, say- 
ing: "Take this money, try and start 
yourself in some small trade, and later on 
we will share your earnings between us." 
Ten years went by, and then the archbishop 
had a visit from a young Savoyard, who 
put down on the table eighty pounds, with 
the words: "Here is what I have made 
since your Grace came to my help ; half of 
it belongs to you." You will not be sur- 
prised to hear that the archbishop bade 
him keep the whole of it. 

If you do not learn economy in childhood 
it will be difficult to do so in later life. 
"Train up a child in the way he should 
go, even when he is old he will not depart 
from it," says the wise man. But though 
you ought to be thrifty, you must beware 
of being avaricious. Covetousness is a 
detestable vice, which has often been the 
cause of people dying of starvation. 



The Savings-Box. 91 

There lived in France a man who had 
amassed a fortune of a million and a half. 
He rented a small lodging in the top story 
of a poor house. The windows were pro- 
tected by an iron grating, and the door 
covered with a sheet of iron. Here for 
some years he and his wife led the life of 
prisoners, never going out, never allowing 
themselves the luxury of a candle, never 
changing their clothes. 

The woman fell Dl; no doctor was al- 
lowed to visit her, and she died. The man 
redoubled his precautions, and stinted him- 
self still more in the food which a woman 
brought daily to his door. One day, get- 
ting no answer to her repeated knocks, 
she sent for the police, who burst open the 
door, found the corpse of the miser lying 
on the floor with two bags full of gold and 
silver close by. 

That is a terrible story, is it not ! you 
ought to save, you ought to put most of 
what you earn, over and above that which 
you give to your parents, into the savings- 
bank, you ought to take care of everything, 
and even occasionally for the sake of econo- 



92 The Dutiful Child. 

my, to deny yourself a legitimate pleasure, 
but at the same time you should always be 
ready to help the poor and sick and needy 
out of your savings. Father Damian, the 
apostle of the lepers who died in the island 
of Molokai in 1889, used, in his boyhood 
to share the cakes, given to him by his 
mother with beggars. A holy monk who 
suffered martyrdom for the Faith in China 
in 1840, was, when a child, of such a com- 
passionate and affectionate disposition, 
that he always managed to save something 
from his own dinner for his poorer school- 
fellows. 

I have heard of another boy, who was 
so kindhearted that no companion ever 
appealed to him in vain. He and his 
brother once took it in turns to sit up with 
a school-fellow, who was ill of nervous 
fever; they changed the applications of 
ice with the greatest care, and cheered and 
comforted the patient to the best of their 
power. 

Above all things you should be ready to 
contribute to the conversion of the poor 
heathen children, and to the support of the 



The Savings-Box. 93 

Pope, who is compelled to live upon the 
alius of Catholics, since his resources have 
been taken from him. Every year thou- 
sands of dying heathen babies are baptized, 
and thus admitted into Heaven, and num- 
bers more are taken into Christian places 
of education. 

A great many missions, orphanages and 
schools are supported by children's contri- 
butions. You may do a great deal of good 
by joining the association of the Holy 
Childhood, and paying your halfpenny 
subscription regularly every month. "It 
is my wish," Leo XIII. once said, "that 
all the children of the Catholic world 
should take part in this excellent work," 

And the Pope ! — He is the father of us 
all. A child ought not to forget his father. 

One Christmas, late in the afternoon, 
when the lamps were being lit, the parish 
priest of a German village, was surprised 
by a visit from a little boy of six or seven, 
who came into the room covered with the 
snow which was falling heavily outside. 
"Father," he said, laying a small heap of 
coppers upon the table, "I wanted to give 



94 The Dutiful Child. 

you something for the Holy Father in 
Eome ; you are soon going to send to him, 
are you not V The priest knew the child 
to be the son of a poor washerwoman, who 
found it hard work to support herself and 
her children on her scanty earnings, so he 
said: " Where did you get the money, my 
little man? did your mother give it to 
you ? " — "Oh ! no. Mother has nothing to 
spare; learned it myself. " — "And how 
did you manage that V 7 — "I collected all 
the bones which you find sometimes out- 
side the houses, and took them to the lime- 
factory. I always get a penny and some- 
times twopence for a basketful. " — "Would 
you not rather at Christmas-time, have 
bought a cake or a toy for yourself ? ? } — 
"Mother told me," was the eager answer, 
"that the Pope in Eome is very poor, 
because they have taken everything away 
from him, even his house. I did want so 
much to give the Holy Father something." 
The priest, much touched, shook the little 
fellow kindly by the hand, and gave him a 
gaily-colored picture. The boy looked up 
frankly and gratefully into his friend's face, 



The Savings-Box. 95 

and trotted off through the snow to his 
mother's cottage. She may have been 
poor in one sense, but in another she was 
rich, for she was a good Catholic and she 
had a very good child. 

Be saving, then, children, but never 
covetous. "He that hath given his bread 
to the hungry, and hath covered the naked 
with a garment ... he is just, he shall 
surely live," saith the Lord. 



CHAPTEE XI. 
The Way to keep well. 

"Early to bed and early to rise 

Makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise." 

7a GIEL once saw in a shop-window a 
^ bottle labelled "Water of Beauty; 
one shilling. " "I wish I had the money 
to buy it," she sighed. "I can let you 
have it much cheaper," said a woman who 
was passing. "Why, have you got a 
spring of it?" — "Come with me to the 
yard, there is the spring, and you can have 
a whole pailful for nothing." 

Cleanliness, children, is the first step to 
health, for many diseases come from dirt. 
When the cholera was lately raging at 
Hamburg and at Marseilles, it was the 
dirtiest streets and courts which were first 
ravaged by the terrible sickness. Always 
be clean. "Cleanliness is next to godli- 
ness." Never forget to wash yourself 
properly, and have a bath at least every 
(96) 



The Way to hep well 97 

week. Never go to school with dirty hands 
or nails, nor with rough hair that looks as 
if you had been running through a holly- 
bush. You may not be able to have smart 
or expensive clothes, but you can have 
them clean and tidy. 

No buttons should be wanting, no seams 
split, the shoes should be nicely blacked. 

A clean and orderly child is particular 
about his school-things. You do not see 
the covers of lesson books daubed with 
pictures, or u dog-eared" books, or pages 
smeared with dirty fingers, or loose leaves 
hanging out of the book, and the pictures in 
his Bible-history and reading-book are not 
"colored" with ink or red and white chalk. 

Cleanliness and neatness go hand in hand. 
You should put all your things in their 
proper place, and not leave anything lying 
about. After your play pick up your 
playthings, and put them in the place 
where they are kept. If little girls see 
any dust or dirt they ought not to wait to 
be told, but should take a duster or broom 
and get rid of it. They are soon able to 
wash the cups and plates, and boys may 



98 The Dutiful Child. 

often lend a helping hand in the yard or 
stable. It tries anyone's patience to hear, 
first one child and then another, calling 
out: "Mother where are my shoes and 
stockings? Have you seen my collar or 
my cap!" 

Everyone must eat or they cannot live, 
but the same food is not good for grown-up 
people and for children. Milk is much 
better for you than tea or coffee. 

I dare say you know the little rime : 

"Thank you, pretty cow that give 
Pleasant milk to soak my bread, 
Every morn and every night 
Warm and fresh and sweet and white.' y 

All children, except in illness when the 
doctor orders it, are better without wine 
or beer. 

Some road- menders in a Swiss town once 
gave a little boy some spirits, which made 
him so ill that he died, and the physician 
of the children's hospital at Berne express- 
ly stated that children who drank milk 
were as a rule lively and healthy, whilst 
those who had wine were sleepy, unintelli- 
gent, weakLy and excitable. 



The Way to keep well 99 

And whenever you eat or drink never 
forget to thank God for his gifts. 

'•Stand up quietly in your place, 
Cross yourself and say your grace." 

A good many children are ill from doing 
no work. Girls particularly are often pale 
and bloodless, because they sit all day in 
a room doing crochet or embroidery, or 
maybe in some cases drawing or painting. 
Their blood gets sluggish, their digestion 
suffers, they become pale and nervous. 
Therefore, children, set to work! Help 
your mother in her washing and ironing, 
her cooking and scrubbing. Fetch the 
wood and water for her, keep the living- 
rooms and the bed-rooms neat, make the 
beds, clean the shoes, scour the passages, 
always be busy, and your rosy cheeks will 
soon bear witness to your good health. 

Idleness injures not only the health of 
the body, but that of the soul, for it is a 
true saying that : 

4 'Satan finds some mischief still 
For idle hands to do." 

Probably one reason why Englishmen 
keep their health and vigor longer than 



100 The Dutiful Child. 

other nations is that they are all so fond of 
active exercise. Eich and poor, old and 
young, play at games. The Duke of Wel- 
lington paid a visit in his old age to Eton, 
his former school, and as he watched the 
merry, healthy lads playing cricket, he 
made the remark, which has become his- 
torical, that " Waterloo was won in the 
playing-fields at Eton." So you see that 
though idleness is a bad thing, yet play, 
and particularly outdoor play, is a good 
thing ; when your work is done of course. 

"All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy, 
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." 

Be in the open air as much as you can, 
for then you can run and jump and play 
to your heart's content. 

A little boy, who was often mistaken 
for a girl, on account of his extremely 
white skin and delicate little face, took 
the matter so seriously to heart that he 
made up his mind to alter his appearance 
somehow. One day he was nowhere to be 
found, and after a long search was dis- 
covered in a corner of his father's large 
garden, hatless, and with bare arms exposed 



The Way to keep well 101 

to the full rays of the sun. He had been 
sitting there four hours, and when asked 
why he had done so, answered: "Because 
I won't be like a girl, I want to get sun- 
burnt and look like a strong boy." 

AVhen the spring comes and the days get 
long, you should on half -holidays, when- 
ever it is possible, go for country walks in 
the fields and lawns ; and if you live in 
the north or the west, you can climb the 
hills. You can gather different kinds of 
flowers, and bring them home, or make 
collections of pebbles and shells, if your 
house is near the sea. 

Have you ever read a little poem called 
"Making Garlands?" It describes the 
country in springtime very prettily. A 
little boy is supposed to say to his sister : 

The lambs are bleating down the lea, 

The sun is shining bright, 
The merry birds from every tree 

Sing out with all their might. 

There's not a wild geranium yet, 
There's not a rose in blow; 

But I can tell you where to get 
The violets springing low. 



102 The Dutiful Child. 

I know the sunny bank so gay 
With yellow primrose flowers, 

The hedges white, with blossomed May, 
As if with snowy showers. 

I'll bring you daisies tipped with red, 

And golden kingcups too, 
The hyacinth with drooping head, 

The periwinkle blue. ,> 

There is always plenty to see and hear 
in the country. The larks soar up into the 
air, pouring forth their flood of song, and 
in the grass there is such chirping and 
rustling, and the blades quiver and sparkle 
so that you might think the little dwarfs, 
of whom you read in fairy stories, were 
running about with their bags of gold. 
Later on in the year the ground is scarlet 
with wild strawberries, and the graceful 
harebells are seen everywhere. And when 
evening comes, and the far-off sound of a 
church bell reaches you, and the setting 
sun bathes hill and valley in his golden 
light, till he sinks altogether from your 
sight, and the moon's silver crescent rises 
in the sky, do you not feel how glorious is 
nature's temple, and how far more beauti- 
ful and great and glorious must He be, 



The Way to keep well. 103 

Who created it all, and keeps it in exist- 
ence by His daily providence i 

"How wonderful creation is 

The work that thou didst bless. 
And oh ! what then must Thou be like 
Eternal loveliness!" 

It is not a very good thing for children 
to sit too long at the piano ; it makes them 
weak and languid, and inclined to stoop. 
You should always hold yourself straight 
when you walk, and be careful to sit up- 
right when you are reading and writing at 
school, whenever it is possible, learn your 
lessons for the next day before it grows 
dark. 

When you go for a walk do not eat ber- 
ries, about which you do not know much. 
Take the stones out of cherries and plums. 

Never crack nuts with your teeth, nor 
drink anything cold when you are hot. 

Do not put your fingers in your mouth. 
The sanitary inspector at Hamburg, drew 
up a report about the cholera, in which he 
stated that more children than grown up 
fell victims to the disease. Why? Because 
11 children generally put their fingers, and 



104 The Dutiful Child. 

everything which they have in their hands, 
into their mouths. " 

Lastly, get up early, and go to bed in 
good time, so as not to be like the man in 
a piece of verse which you may often hear 
quoted : 

" 'Tis the voice of the sluggard I heard him 
complain, 
You've waked me too soon, I must slumber 
again.' ' 

If you observe all these rules, you will 
not need a doctor as often as you would 
otherwise do. But recollect that body and 
soul are very closely connected, and have 
a great influence on each other, and that 
you will certainly be ill if you are not 
good. You must be temperate in your 
food and drink, pure and modest, gentle 
and peaceable. 

In the February of 1893 Leo XIII. kept 
his episcopal jubilee, that is to say, the fif- 
tieth anniversary of his becoming a bishop. 
Many thousands of Catholics hastened to 
Eome, in order to offer their congratula- 
tions to the Holy Father, and amongst 
them was a gentleman, who brought his 



The Way to keep well. 105 

little boy. a deaf and dumb cripple, hoping 
that he might be cured at the tomb of the 
Prince of the Apostles. He was a rich 
man, and took a large offering to the Pope, 
but do you not think he would gladly have 
parted with almost all his wealth, if by 
doing so he could have given health to his 
child! Health is one of God's best gifts; 
it is worth more than all the gold and 
silver in the world. Therefore, thank 
Him every day for it, avoid what injures it, 
and take all reasonable care to preserve it. 




OHAPTEE XII. 
The Greatest Day of your Life. 

"The I/ord with thee would fain his dwelling 
make, 
Behold Him standing knocking at thy door, 
Oh ! bid Him enter and possession take 
Of thy heart's kingdom now and evermore." 

TirnjHEN Blessed John was a little boy 
he was once at Mass on a great 
feast, when many people were going to Holy 
Communion. Little John felt a strange 
and wonderful feeling come over him he 
longed to go up to the altar with them. 
Scarcely was Mass over than he sought out 
the priest, and besought him with such 
intense earnestness to let him go to Com- 
munion, that the priest, touched to the 
depths of his soul, said: "Well, prepare 
yourself very carefully, my child, and 
although you are certainly very young, I 
will give you leave to approach the Table 
of the Lord. " John was overjoyed. He 
(106) 



The Greatest Day of your Life. 107 

prepared himself to the very best of his 
power the day before his First Communion, 
and received our Lord into a heart pure 
and innocent as an angel's. "This is the 
greatest and happiest day of my life," said 
he to his mother on coming home from 
church. 

The day of a child's First Communion 
ought certainly to be the happiest day of 
his life, and he ought to prepare himself 
for it with the utmost care, for often and 
often his whole future depends upon it. If 
he approaches God's Table worthily he per- 
severes in goodness, but if his first receiv- 
ing of his Saviour is unworthy, he usually 
sinks deeper and deeper, gets blinded and 
hardened, and sometimes even dies in his 
sins. Therefore, my dear children be glad 
and rejoice when the great day draws near, 
but at the same time take all possible pains 
to set your mind and heart ready for it. 

Learn your Catechism quite perfectly, 
never miss any religious instruction, and 
during the lesson be all eyes and ears, so 
that you may understand the full depth 
and beauty of the doctrine of the Blessed 
Sacrament of the Altar. 



108 The Dutiful Child. 

So much for your mind. Of far greater 
importance is the preparation of the heart. 
Our Lord is going to dwell in your heart, 
therefore it must be pure. During the 
weeks of preparation before your First 
Communion pray more than usual, every 
evening say an "Our Father " that you may 
make a good Communion, and ask your 
parents and your brothers and sisters to 
pray for you. Go every month to con- 
fession. A certain bishop of Mayence 
desired that all the children in his diocese 
should go to confession once a month for 
two years before their First Communion. 
And he was very wise ! In the Sacrament of 
Penance a child learns to look after his own 
soul, he learns to examine his conscience, 
to repent of his sins for the love of God, 
he gradually gets a greater horror of sin, 
and is in a fair way of becoming more good 
and pious. His confessor helps him to lay 
his sins gradually aside, and to lead a life 
pleasing to God. Many a child is saved 
by confession from going to ruin in soul 
and body. So you see clearly that confes- 
sion is the most powerful means of making 
a worthy preparation for Holy Communion. 



The Greatest Day of your Life. 109 

Thirdly you must work unweariedly 
every day at rooting out your faults. A 
child who loses his temper easily must keep 
down his anger, one who is disobedient 
must obey promptly and cheerfully; one 
who is not particular enough about mod- 
esty must avoid nothing so carefully as the 
slightest sin against purity. Your heart 
must be pure. You must be good and 
docile, well behaved and steady at home, 
out-of-doors, at church and at school. 
Everyone ought to know by your conduct 
that you are a First Communicant. It must 
be your first care to make your soul a dwel- 
ling as worthy as possible of your God. 

Leave everything else to your parents, 
and if you are a little girl be sure not to 
occupy your mind with thoughts of your 
clothes. Did you ever hear of that child 
in Paris who in the absence of her parents, 
thought on the night before her First Com- 
munion that she would try on her new 
frock once more 1 She was much pleased 
with her appearance in the glass, and made 
her little brother hold a light for her. The 
boy came too near the white frock with the 



110 The Dutiful Child. 

candle, set it on fire, and in two hours the 
poor little girl died in terrible suffering. 

Finally make a general confession a week 
or two before your First Communion, and 
redouble then your zeal and devotion. Then 
indeed the day of your First Communion 
will be rich in the greatest blessings and 
graces. 

And when you have received the Body 
and Blood of your Saviour with good dis- 
positions into a heart as pure as a child 
can make it, never fail from that day forth 
to approach the Sacraments at least every 
month, and try to do so as carefully, as 
though you were making your last confes- 
sion and Communion. Thus you will re- 
main pure, good and innocent, and will 
always be able to look death quietly in the 
face, for even if it should come suddenly it 
will find you ready. 

German children often plant a young 
tree in the garden on their First Commun- 
ion Day. It is a pretty custom, for as the 
tree grows and puts forth blossoms and 
bears fruit, so ought the child to wear the 
bloom of innocence and piety and to bring 



The Greatest Day of your Life 111 

forth fruit which will ripen for Heaven. 
Every glance at the little tree reminds him 
of the great day of his First Communion 
and of the resolutions and promises which 
he made then. And if he should happen 
to stray from the right path the tree seems 
to stand before him like a friendly coun- 
sellor, and to say: "Go back to God. Go 
back to the innocence and purity of that 
great day." 

The mere thought of their First Com- 
munion has sometimes converted even 
great sinners. Pere Milleriot, who did so 
grand a work for souls in Paris, once 
received a visit from an old man of eighty- 
three, who greeted him with the words : 
"I have brought you three francs for 
Peter's Pence. " — "That is very good of 
you ; God will reward you, particularly as 
you don't look like a millionaire." — 
"You're about right, I'm not rich, but I 
have a heart, and I love Pius IX, so I have 
saved this little sum out of my food." — 
"Well certainly a fellow like you ought to 
make sure of a place in Heaven. Come, 
tell me, are'nt you a little bit behindhand 



112 The Dutiful Child. 

with your religious duties ?" — "Bather! 
but one can see to that some time or other. " 
— "Why some time or other ? Who can tell 
what is going to happen ? Why not today ! 
Did you ever make your First Commun- 
ion? " — < <Oh ! yes, but I have never been to 
the Sacraments since." — "Well that is a 
long time certainly, but were you not happy 
on your First Communion-day? " The old 
man was touched, and could scarcely get 
out the words : "Indeed I was, but my sins 
are too great now." — "Nay, God's mercy 
is inexhaustible, if you make a sincere con- 
fession of your sins, He will forgive you 
everything." — The old man shed tears. 
He made a long confession with the deep- 
est, contrition, received Holy Communion 
the next day, and in the evening lay down 
to die. His last words were: "This is 
the greatest day of my life." 



T 



CHAPTEE XIII. 
Our State of Life, 

"The rich man in his castle, 
The poor man at his gate, 
He made them high or lowly 
And ordered their estate." 

73 TEACHER once told the children of 
his school to sit straight and proper- 
ly. • % like scholars." His words took effect. 
Only one boy remained in a lounging atti- 
tude. Being asked why he did not pay any 
attention to the admonition, he answered : 
< k I have no need to do so, I am not a 
scholar, but a shoemaker." 

"What are you going to be children, schol- 
ars or shoemakers ! Everyone must chose 
a fixed calling, if he is to earn a livelihood. 
People who have never learnt how to do 
anything in particular, generally rue it 
bitterly. Therefore consider well what 
you wish to be, a shoemaker or a tailor, 
a blacksmith or a locksmith, a baker or a 
(113) 



114 The Dutiful Child. 

butcher. The question mainly depends 
upon what you have a turn for, what you 
take pleasure in doing. 

"That in which we take delight 
Makes all toil and labor light." 

But you must also, in choosing your way 
of life, reflect what you are physically most 
fitted for. You must be tolerably strong 
to become a smith or a butcher, but even 
if you are a little weakly you make a good 
tailor or painter or watchmaker. 

Learn a trade which suits you, and to 
which you have a mind, or become an 
agricultural laborer if that agrees with 
your inclinations. 

But perhaps you will say that you want 
to study, to enter upon a profession. Well, 
it is quite possible that such is God's de- 
sign for you. Some years ago a poor man 
died, leaving one little boy behind him. 
The priest who was with the man at the 
last, took the orphan home with him for the 
day, and by way of distracting his thoughts 
a little, set him down to the piano. It was 
soon evident that the boy possessed an 
unusual talent for music. He was educated 



Our State of Life. 115 

as a musician, and in due time gained, for 
a musical composition which he sent in to 
the French Academy, the highest prize 
bestowed, namely, £120. 

There was once a little German boy who 
was apprenticed by his father to a copper- 
smith. But all manual labor went against 
the grain with this lad of thirteen, who 
kept his books tucked under his leathern 
apron, and who was apt to hinder his com- 
panions in their work, by relating to them 
what he had been reading. At last, by in- 
cessant entreaties, he obtained his father's 
leave to go and study. On the day that 
he left the workshop he called the other 
apprentices together, and saying: "Look 
here, you fellows, this is my burnt- offering, 
because I am not going to be a coppersmith 
any longer, " he flung a whole bucketfull 
of resin on the hot coal of the forge. 
Naturally there was a great blaze, and the 
master hurried in full of alarm, thinking 
that a fire had broken out in the smithy. 
But the boy said quietly: " There is no 
danger ; I have only been making a burnt- 
offering, because the days of my appren- 



116 The Dutiful Child. 

ticeship are over. I must and will study ; 
if you want to show me a kindness, do help 
me." And his good master did help him. 
Later on that young apprentice, whose 
name was John Janssen, became not only 
a good and holy priest, but a famous man. 

Nine years after his departure from the 
smithy his former master wrote to him: 
" Certainly none of us expected that in nine 
years and a half the coppersmith prentice 
would take a doctor's degree. God has 
blessed you, because you did not turn 
away from handicraft out of slothfulness, 
but from a conviction that God had called 
you to use different implements from those 
of a blacksmith's forge. But you need 
never regret having been an apprentice, 
and you ought always to have kindly feel- 
ings towards the working class." 

Cases of this kind do occur in which a 
boy is plainly destined for a higher calling. 
But after all parents and teachers and the 
priest are the proper persons to settle the 
question, and as a rule it is best to learn a 
trade or work in the fields. For a great 
many people who have had a good educa- 



Our State of Life. 117 

tiou cannot get anything to do. In London 
alone there are hundreds of unemployed 
clerks, and an industrious and skilful 
workman, or a thrifty farm laborer, is 
better off than a starving "quill-driver," 
with his pen stuck behind his ear. In the 
same way a girl fares better, both in soul 
and body, if, when she leaves school, she 
takes, with the leave of her parents, a good 
place, where she learns her work thorough- 
ly, than if she goes into a shop or factory. 
Girls brought up to do domestic service 
make far better wives than shop or factory 
hands, who seldom know much about 
either cooking or house-work, and who 
often get into bad company through run- 
ning about in the evenings. 

At Rome is the largest church in the 
whole world, St. Peter's, which is capable 
of holding fifty-four thousand people. 
AVhen Bramante, its architect, had after 
much study and toil, finished the plan for 
it, he rolled the drawing up in fine paper, 
tied it with scarlet and white ribbons, and 
entrusted his little boy with the important 
task of taking it to the reigning Pope, who 



118 The Dutiful Child. 

was named Julius II. The Holy Father 
was much delighted with the plan, and 
thought that in truth the new church would 
be the most beautiful and glorious in the 
whole world. But he was far from guessing 
that it would take a hundred and twenty 
years to build, (from 1506 to 1626). In 
the joy of his heart the Pope led little 
Bramante to his desk, pulled out a drawer 
full of gold pieces, saying: "There, my 
child, put your hand in and take out as 
much as you can hold." The boy looked 
up frankly into the Pope's face and an- 
swered: "Holy Father! won't you be so 
kind as to put your hand in f It is much 
bigger than mine ? ? ? 

My dear children, you may learn a lesson 
from this story. As little Bramante knew 
that the Pope was bigger than he, and 
could hold more, so you know that your 
Father in Heaven, Who holds the earth 
and sea and sky "in the hollow of His 
Hand," Whose power and wisdom are 
alike infinite, knows better than anyone 
what is fit for you, and what will make 
you happy. Therefore often ask Him with 



Our State of Life. 119 

St. Paul : u Lord, what wilt Thou have me 
to do?" When you kneel down to your 
prayers, say: "My God, show me what I 
ought to be. Thou seest all things, Thou 
knowest what is best. Let my will be 
Thine. » 

"Our happiest, fittest state, my dear, 
Be sure is that we're given here ; 
And boy or girl, we're better far, 
Just where we're set and as we are." 




CHAPTEE XIV. 
The Way to Heaven. 

"O Christian child take courage though 
hard and rough the way, 

Though strong thy foes and many, though 
long and fierce the fray, 

From Heaven thy Mother Mary, with pity- 
ing eyes looks down 

And Christ Himself is waiting, His sol- 
dier brave to crown." 

TirTIHEN a young child dies, the Italians 
say: "E andato a Dio," which 
means, "It has gone to God." Heaven 
is your goal, dear children, you would all 
like to go there. But which is the way to 
Heaven? In order to get there we must 
first of all believe whatever God has re- 
vealed and proposes to us to be believed 
through the Holy Catholic Church. "He 
that believeth not, shall be condemned," 
says St. Mark, and we read in the Gospel 
of St. John : "He that believeth in the Son 
hath life everlasting, but he that believeth 
(120) 



The Way to Heaven. 121 

not the Son shall not see life, but the 
wrath of God abideth on him," and again 
in the Acts of the Apostles: "Believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved and thy house. " " Without faith it 
is impossible to please God, for he that 
cometh to God must believe that He is, 
and is a rewarder unto them that seek 
Hint," writes St. Paul in the epistle to the 
Hebrews. 

But Christ our Lord has committed His 
teaching to the Church, which He founded, 
and has expressly promised her the assist- 
ance of the Holy Ghost in order that she 
may set before us the pure and unimpaired 
doctrine of Jesus Christ. "The spirit of 
truth shall abide with you for ever, and 
shall teach you all truth. " 

Therefore everyone who wishes to get 
to Heaven must believe everything which 
God has revealed and proposes to us to be 
revealed through His Holy Catholic Church. 
If a person rejects wilfully one dogma of 
faith the fearful words: u He that believeth 
not shall be condemned," apply to him. 
Say every morning with great fervor of 



122 The Dutiful Child. 

heart: "O my God, I believe in Thee, 
because Thou art the eternal and infallible 
Truth." 

Every Sunday when you see the baptis- 
mal font say an "Our Father" for the 
preservation of your holy faith, for faith is 
a grace which, after having received it 
once, you may lose through lukewarmness 
and sin. And if any doubts against the 
Faith assail you, turn away from them and 
say to yourself: " Jesus Christ, God and 
man, and His unerring Church cannot 
deceive me." 

We read in the Acts of the Martyrs that 
at the time of the early persecutions of the 
Christians a boy of about ten years old 
stood before the praetor in order to give 
an account of his belief. No persuasions 
nor seductive wiles had any effect on the 
young Christian hero. On the contrary he 
spoke with such glowing love of Jesus 
Christ, the Heavenly King of souls and 
hearts, and at the same time with such 
warmth of his attachment to his earthly 
country that the heathen governor, full of 
wonder and admiration, asked: "TJnde 



The Way to Heaven. 123 

haec habes? Quis tibi o puer dixit? 7 ' 
" Where did you get all that from! Who 
told you!" The young martyr gave this 
beautiful answer: "Mihi mater et matri 
Deus." "My mother, the Holy Catholic 
Church told me, and God Himself told her. ' ' 

Once when the father of St. Jane Frances 
de Chantal received a visit from a heretic, 
who in the course of conversation denied the 
Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacra- 
ment of the Altar, the nine years old child 
placed herself before him saying in indig- 
nant tones : "But Sir, if you do not believe 
that, you make out Christ a deceiver." 

We must secondly keep all the command- 
ments which God has ordered us to keep. 
"Fear God and keep His commandments 
for this is all man's duty," says the Holy 
Ghost through the mouth of Salomon. We 
must keep God's commandments, for in so 
doing consists the service which we owe to 
the Lord on high. All creatures, even 
those without life or reason, serve God, 
inasmuch as they unceasingly fulfil God's 
will. By His command the sun shines, 
the stars twinkle, the earth brings forth 



124 The Dutiful Child. 

plants and flowers. But what creatures 
without life or reason do unknowingly and 
of necessity, man must do from free choice, 
he must of his own free will observe the 
commandments of God and of His holy 
Church. If he does not, he is turning 
aside from the way to Heaven. 

In the year 1893 an Albanian child of 
six years old came into the house of a 
Mahometan kinsman, who sought to make 
him spit upon the cross and to eat meat, 
though it was a fast-day. But the boy 
stood firm and snatching up the cross, 
pressed it to his breast and kissed it. Then 
the Turk shot the little martyr down with 
three bullets. 

Learn from this to be conscientious, and 
to hold fast to the strict observance of the 
commandments of God and of His Church. 
Avoid not only great, but also small sins. 
Sometimes deny yourself even what is 
quite lawful, that will make it easier for 
you to refrain from what is unlawful. At 
table eat a little less that you would like 
to do, give half your apple or orange to the 
child of a poor neighbor, spend your pence 



The Way to Heaven. 125 

sometimes upon the rescue of the poor 
heathen children, instead of upon cakes, if 
you are thirsty put off drinking for awhile, 
get up in the morning a few minutes earlier 
than is necessary; deprive yourself for 
love of your crucified Saviour of some 
small pleasure. 

Blessed John Berchmans began to go to 
school at the age of seven. It was observed 
that he always got up and left home very 
early. On being questioned it came out 
that this pious child heard several Masses 
every day, in order to bring a blessing 
upon his school-time and his learning. 

The blessed Nicolas of Flue used to fast 
at first every Friday, then twice, and final- 
ly four times a week, namely every Mon- 
day, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, of 
the example of his patron- saints St. Nicolas 
of Myra and St. Nicolas of Tolentino. Still 
greater was his abstemiousness during 
Lent, when he never touched any warm 
food, but contented himself with dried 
fruits or a bit of bread. And like Daniel 
and his companions, who as the Holy 
Scripture bears witness, were "fairer and 



126 The Dutiful Child. 

fatter, " on a diet of pulse and water, "than 
all the children that eat of the king meat," 
so Nicolas, in spite of his severe fasting 
was stout, well-grown and strong, and 
could endure more than those who devoted 
much attention to bodily comfort. 

Without mortification and self-denial a 
truly Christian life is impossible. "A 
good, true and strong man is he who has 
learnt early in life to conquer and put force 
upon himself." So wrote a god-father to 
his young god- son. 

Therefore, dear children, avoid every- 
thing that is sinful, and practice every day 
some little self-denial and mortification. 
Then you will be always in habitual grace, 
and if you make the "good intention" 
every morning, everything that you do, 
work, play, eating and drinking help you 
on your way to Heaven, where you will 
one day be richly rewarded. 

We must thirdly use the means of grace 
which God has ordained for our salvation ; 
that is we must pray devoutly, and receive 
the sacraments worthily; otherwise we 
shall obtain no grace, and without grace 



The Way to Heaven. 127 

we can neither believe nor keep the com- 
mandments. 

Now you see, children, how easy it is to 
get to Heaven. Sometimes it costs a little 
struggle, a little self-conquest, but how 
immeasurably great will be the reward in 
Heaven! To u never know when you may 
die. Every day between ninety-six and 
ninety-seven thousand people die ; a quar- 
ter of the population of the world never 
reaches the age of seventeen. Therefore 
always walk in the road which will cer- 
tainly lead you to Heaven. There are all 
the good and pious children, who trod the 
right path when they were on earth. They 
beckon to you, they cry out to you: "O 
little brothers and sisters, never turn aside 
from the way to Heaven. " For "eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
into the heart of man, what things God 
hath prepared for them that love Him." 




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